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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/27870386">death by a thousand cuts</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/snowglobes/pseuds/snowglobes'>snowglobes</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>EXO (Band)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Aftermath of Torture, Alternate Universe - Reincarnation, Angst, Blood and Violence, Character Death, Clones, Discussions of past rape/non-con, Dubious Consent, Explicit Sexual Content, Fate &amp; Destiny, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, MAMA Era Powers (EXO), Mental Anguish, Minor Byun Baekhyun/Kim Jongdae | Chen, Minor Character Death, Past Abuse, Past Sexual Abuse, Self-cest, Semi-Public Sex, Threesome - M/M/M, Time Travel, Trauma, Voyeurism, nothing truly horrendous happens on screen, or that time i thought: what if i wrote a fic with THREE baekhyuns, there are some times when it's under dubious circumstances hence the tag, this is the first time i've ever used that tag sob, while consent is always given in sexual situations</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-12-04</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-12-06</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-18 09:15:05</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Explicit</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>15</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>59,679</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/27870386</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/snowglobes/pseuds/snowglobes</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>“Baek? Baby, come back to bed.”<br/>He froze. That wasn’t his voice. The rapier slipped from his fingers with a clatter, ghosts from years ago assaulting him. It couldn’t be. He died. Baekhyun felt his heart stutter.<br/>“Baekhyun?” Yixing blinked at him in the dull light that constituted as sunlight in their war-ravaged world. He squinted at Baekhyun. “What happened to your hair? Why is it white?”<br/>“This isn’t possible.” Baekhyun clutched at his head, a sudden pain splitting through him. This was a cruel trick pulled from the depths of his mind by the Red Force. “You’re dead.”</p><p> </p><p>or: monster baekhyun and obsession baekhyun get swapped in time :')</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Byun Baekhyun/Baëkhyun, Byun Baekhyun/Zhang Yi Xing | Lay, Byun Baekhyun/Zhang Yi Xing | Lay/Byun Baekhyun, Kim Jongin | Kai/Lee Taemin, Kim Junmyeon | Suho/Oh Sehun</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>28</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>91</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Collections:</b></td><td>EXODEUX Round 1</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>1. Chapter 1</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>HUGE thank you to my best friend and beta who shall remain nameless for now. She caught all my mistakes and generally made this bearable to read haha. She also kept me sane while i foolishly attempted to write a fic with THREE baekhyuns which is a feat i cannot thank her enough for undertaking. </p><p>Thanks to the mods, who were lovely to work with and ran a very fun fest. And for giving me an excuse to actually write this monster of a fic lol</p><p>A few notes on this story: it's probably the most ambitious thing i've written since my last mama au, and quite a bit different. there are themes that are darker than i've gone before, and things that i wrote that i didn't think i ever would, but here we are. I am very proud of what I've done here, and grateful to everyone who encouraged me when i wanted to quit. I think i've got everything that needs a warning in the tags, but there are a few chapters that I'll probably give little warnings about to make reading a smooth process for anyone that's wary. </p><p>Enjoy!</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <em>and you realize the one person in the world who loves you</em>
</p><p>
  <em>isn’t the one you thought it would be,</em>
</p><p>
  <em>and you don’t trust him to love you in a way</em>
</p><p>
  <em>you would enjoy.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>—Richard Siken</em>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>*</em>
</p><p>Baekhyun woke to the bleak sunrise of another day, wondering like always, if it was worth it to even get out of bed, or if he should stay where he was and wait for the Red Force to kill him. At least it was warm under the blankets, instead of the perpetual freeze of the outside world.</p><p>The bed next to him where Yixing slept was cold, pillow pristine, untouched. Baekhyun frowned. While sleep didn’t come easy to any of them these days, it was rare for Yixing to not come to bed at all. He sat up.</p><p>The world flickered around him, like he was in one of the simulations the Red Force had forced them into when they’d been captured two years ago. He blinked, and the room came back into focus. It wasn’t his room.</p><p>Or, it was, and then it wasn’t.</p><p>“Yixing?” he called, dread pooling in his stomach. “Yixing!”</p><p>The door to his room opened as he reached it. “Baekhyun?” Jongdae asked, his eyes wide with concern. “You okay?”</p><p>“Oh, Dae,” Baekhyun sagged in relief, absently noting Jongdae’s curly hair. “I’m so glad to see you. Where’s Yixing?”</p><p>“Baekhyun.” Jongdae’s voice was filled with something Baekhyun didn’t like. “Yixing is gone. You know that.” His eyebrows furrowed in confusion. “Hang on, why is your hair black?”</p><p>“What?” Baekhyun bolted from the bed and across the room, grabbing Jongdae by the shoulders. “What do you mean <em>gone?” </em>He pushed past Jongdae into an unfamiliar hallway. “Did he go out on a mission? Why didn’t he say goodbye before leaving?” He whirled back around to find Jongdae looking at him like he was acting crazy.</p><p>“Baekhyun, Yixing died two years ago. Remember?”</p><p>“W-what?” Baekhyun was shaking his head, the words Jongdae was saying not processing. “No, he was alive yesterday. I kissed him before I went to bed! That’s not possible.”</p><p>“He died in the cube. The Red Force killed him.” Jongdae placed a cautious hand on Baekhyun’s shoulder. “You held him as he died. Remember?”</p><p>“I—no. You’re lying to me.”</p><p>“Hold on.” Jongdae peered closer, pushing his hair away from his eyes. “You’re not Baekhyun.”</p><p>“What?” He struggled to keep up with Jongdae, blinking back tears. “Of course, I am.”</p><p>“Did they make <em>another</em> clone?” He grabbed Baekhyun’s wrist. “Come on.”</p><p>“Where are you taking me?” He struggled, but Jongdae’s grip was unforgiving. “Is this one of the simulations the Red Force created?”</p><p>“I’m taking you to the others. And the Red Force has moved beyond simulations, now.”</p><p>It was an ominous enough statement that Baekhyun stopped struggling and followed, trying to figure out what on earth was happening.</p><p>Jongdae brought him to a common room of sorts, a few pristine white couches lining the walls. The halogen lights were bright and reflecting off the concrete floors and walls. As soon as he saw everyone gathered there, it became abundantly clear that wherever he was, it wasn’t home.</p><p>Five people stared at him, and while they were all familiar faces, he knew that Chanyeol hadn’t had the scar across his nose or pink hair, or that Junmyeon’s vibrant red hair was a color he couldn’t have possibly gotten in one night. The biggest difference, though, was Jongin’s unmarred face. His Jongin had a long scar slashing diagonally across his face and white hair, not teal.</p><p>“Who are you?” he asked the room at large. “You’re not my team.”</p><p>“And you’re not our Baekhyun,” Junmyeon agreed, crossing his arms. “So who the fuck are you?”</p><p>*</p><p>Baekhyun’s eyes snapped open when an arm slipped around his waist, pulling him close to a firm, warm body. Knowing one of the clones had somehow managed to get past their guard again, Baekhyun dove from the bed and for his rapier in one smooth roll, popping back to his feet and facing the bed, prepared to add to the many scars he’d already given his clone in other encounters.</p><p>“Baek? Baby, come back to bed.”</p><p>He froze. That wasn’t his voice. The rapier slipped from his fingers with a clatter, ghosts from years ago assaulting him. It couldn’t be. He <em>died. </em>Baekhyun felt his heart stutter.</p><p>“Baekhyun?” Yixing blinked at him in the dull light that constituted as sunlight in their war-ravaged world. He squinted at Baekhyun. “What happened to your hair? Why is it white?”</p><p>“This isn’t possible.” Baekhyun clutched at his head, a sudden pain splitting through him. This was a cruel trick pulled from the depths of his mind by the Red Force. “You’re dead.”</p><p>Yixing slowly pushed the blankets aside and stood, approaching Baekhyun cautiously. “Babe, what are you talking about? I’m right here.” He reached out for Baekhyun, hands steady. “Did you have another nightmare?”</p><p>“Don’t touch me!” Baekhyun shouted, certain that Baëkhyun was behind this somehow. “You’re not real,” he choked.</p><p>Yixing flinched but grabbed Baekhyun by the shoulders anyway. “I am. I’m right here.” He blinked at Baekhyun. “Seriously, what happened to your hair?”</p><p>Yixing was <em>real.</em> His hands were gripping Baekhyun’s shoulders, he could feel his touch. “Yixing?” He hadn’t felt Yixing’s touch in two years. He’d forgotten how good it felt, gentle and unassuming. “What’s happening?”</p><p>Yixing hesitantly pulled him into his arms, tears slipping from Baekhyun’s eyes as he buried his face in Yixing’s shoulder, wrapping his arms around Yixing and relaxing into a familiar warmth he hadn’t felt in so long. He couldn’t remember the last time he cried; probably shortly after Yixing died, before he’d become numb to anything the world could throw at him.</p><p>“You’re not my Baekhyun, are you?” Yixing’s voice was quiet, tender, but still shook Baekhyun to his core.</p><p>“I—you were dead. I saw you die, held you in my arms, and now you’re alive?” He couldn’t seem to process, shock making his brain repeat information in hopes he’d be able to comprehend it at some point.</p><p>“You’re obviously <em>a</em> Baekhyun, but I’ve never seen my Baekhyun use a sword.”</p><p>“Rapier,” Baekhyun corrected, absently. “Where am I? What year is it; what’s the Red Force doing?” He pulled away, a sudden thought occurring to him. “Did they somehow clone you before you died?” his breathing picked back up. “Is this a new form of torture Baëkhyun came up with using our shared memories?”</p><p>“Baekhyun, slow down.” Yixing sat heavily on the bed, absently tugging Baekhyun down by the wrist to sit next to him. “One thing at a time.”</p><p>He reached up to cup Baekhyun’s cheek, and he flinched away before he could help himself. Hurt flashed behind Yixing’s eyes as he slowly lowered his hand, keeping them in his lap. “It’s twenty-sixteen, the Red Force have been trying to narrow down our location, but we’ve been evading them by switching between abandoned warehouses frequently. I have no idea what you’re talking about with clones.”</p><p>Baekhyun gaped at him. He was...three years in the past? It shouldn’t be possible. But it would explain why Yixing was here, alive. But, if he was here, why wasn’t he seeing himself? “I come from twenty-nineteen,” he explained. “Something odd has happened. Where is your Baekhyun? My past self should be here, right?”</p><p>Yixing blinked several times, mouth slack. “You’re saying…you’re a future Baekhyun?”</p><p>“If it’s really the year you say it is, then yes. As long as you really aren’t a clone.”</p><p>“Why do you keep mentioning clones?” Yixing asked, eyes tight around the corners.</p><p>“Because where I’m from, they’ve cloned those of us still alive, and sicced them on us. Although, they’ve been somewhat lackluster in their efforts to kill us since they realized you’d died.” He ran a hand through his hair, fluffing the strands. “We’re being hunted by the only people who could reliably know where we’re hiding, and it’s because they’re literally us. As far as we can tell they have the same memories, same thoughts and feelings, and yet they seem crueler, harder.”</p><p>“That’s awful,” Yixing muttered. He stood suddenly, reaching out for Baekhyun. “Come on, you need to talk to the others.”</p><p>Baekhyun retrieved his rapier from the floor, sheathing and strapping it to his back over the clothes he’d been wearing yesterday. It seemed like whatever had happened, he’d brought everything with him that he’d had last night when he went to sleep. If this was one of Jongin’s fuckups, he was going to be obscenely upset. Yixing eyed him curiously before he led them out of the room.</p><p>“Aren’t you going to put on a shirt?” Baekhyun asked, noting for the first time that Yixing was shirtless.</p><p>“Why would I?” Yixing turned with a quirked eyebrow, his black pants slung low on his hips. “It’s just the team, and everyone knows I’m taken.”</p><p>Baekhyun bit his tongue, his ears feeling a bit hot. Yixing smirked at him and turned back around, continuing down the hallway. Baekhyun was stabbed with an intense wave of <em>longing.</em> It had been an eternity since he’d seen Yixing’s smirk. The knowledge that this wasn’t his Yixing the only thing stopping him from hauling Yixing back into that room and reacquainting himself with the man he loved.</p><p>The warehouse they were in was sparse, hallways dark and unlit except by light filtering in from different rooms, dim and hazy. It was filthy, floors dirty and a thickness in the air that made Baekhyun feel like he was breathing mostly dust. It made him realize how much had changed in three years, how inconsequential they would become.</p><p>He followed Yixing into a large space—probably the main body of the warehouse—and found several worn mattresses scattered around the room, familiar faces looking up at their entrance.</p><p>“It’s about time you two!” Chanyeol yelled, his voice booming through the cavernous space. “You slept late, even by your standards Yixing. What, did Baekhyun keep you up half the night?”</p><p>Baekhyun nearly tripped over his own feet as he spotted Kyungsoo, who reached out and smacked Chanyeol upside the head. “Keep your voice down, idiot.”</p><p>“Woah, did you bleach Baek’s hair?” Jongdae ran up to them, reaching for Baekhyun, who flinched away out of habit. Jongdae’s hair was black and straight, swept away from his face just like Chën’s. “Baek?” Jongdae pouted at him with wide eyes, looking hurt. “What’s wrong with you?”</p><p>“Is that a fucking <em>sword</em> strapped to your back?” Baekhyun jumped and whirled, hackles raised, that cold, white light within him surging to his fingertips. He hadn’t heard Sehun come up behind him, features as handsome and bored as they always were. He’d always been the hardest to separate from his clone.</p><p>“Baekhyun?” Junmyeon wasn’t ever far behind Sehun in both worlds, it seemed. Time didn’t change everything, then. “What’s wrong with you?”</p><p>“It’s not our Baekhyun,” Yixing said.</p><p>There were a few beats of silence, and then everyone started talking at once.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0002"><h2>2. Chapter 2</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>my playlist for this fic was honestly pretty bangin' so like, I've got song recs for chapters depending on the scene if you're so inclined. I'll also link the full playlist here.</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Baekhyun felt very lost. He just wanted to hug Yixing and hide from their messed-up world for a few hours, but he wasn’t sure that he was anywhere near his world right now. The rest of the team were discussing him in hushed whispers while he sat on one of the couches and tried not to spiral any deeper into panic. Despite his protests that he had no idea how he’d gotten here, or why he seemed to be under the impression it was three years in the past (he was certain of the date, but that didn’t explain why the actual current date was three years in the future).</p>
<p>He had absolutely no idea what they were talking about, but judging by the suspicious looks, it didn’t bode well for him. He just wanted to go back home. The place they were in…it was too clean. Too sterile. Despite the worn-down appearance of the furniture, the building itself was clean and somewhat high-tech—worlds above the dingy, dirty warehouse he’d been sleeping in yesterday. While the room he’d woken up in was nearly identical to the one he’d fallen asleep in, that was where the similarities ended.</p>
<p>It all confirmed that he was far from home, for the time being. He felt more alone that he’d ever felt in his life, desolation sweeping through him with every strange new thing he noticed.</p>
<p>Junmyeon cleared his throat, and Baekhyun shifted his gaze to him. “Since we can’t verify that you <em>aren’t</em> another clone, we’re keeping you here on lock down.”</p>
<p>“What do you mean <em>clones?”</em> Baekhyun was so confused. “Will one of you please explain things to me?” He looked around. “Where’s Kyungsoo, or Minseok?” He hadn’t seen either of them since Jongdae had dragged him in the room.</p>
<p>“They’ve been prisoners of the war for the last two years,” Chanyeol answered. “You don’t remember?”</p>
<p>“I’m telling you, I’m not part of this world!” Baekhyun felt himself working up into hysterics, everything crashing around him with the realization that two more people he depended on <em>weren’t there. </em>“I don’t know who any of you are.”</p>
<p>They were so familiar, five faces he knew as well as his own, and yet so, so different.</p>
<p>That got him five very odd looks. “Baekhyun, you’re our light. Although, ever since Yixing died you’ve been a bit darker.” Jongdae’s voice was gentle and soft, like he knew Baekhyun was about five seconds away from shattering.</p>
<p>“You got a sword,” Jongin added, giving Baekhyun a look that, if it were his Jongin, would comfort him. Instead it was just unsettling coming from a face so hardened.</p>
<p>“Will someone please just tell me what’s going on?”</p>
<p>The five people in front of him exchanged looks, having a wordless conversation Baekhyun was shocked to realize he couldn’t understand. Every little difference between these people and his team just reinforced how lost and lonely he was.</p>
<p>“Oh, come on. It’s not like he’s going to go anywhere,” Jongdae reasoned. It looked like he was still willing to stand up for Baekhyun. At least that hadn’t changed. “If we’re confining him to the compound, he’s not a threat. Not really, at least.”</p>
<p>Junmyeon sighed. “Okay, fine.” He turned to Baekhyun, his red hair still so alarming. “You’d better sit down.”</p>
<p> </p>
<p>It took Junmyeon and the others close to two hours to explain everything that had happened, their words heavy and devoid of emotion as they explained how Yixing had been killed in a raid by the Red Force nearly three years ago, how Minseok and Kyungsoo had been captured in different sieges after that. But the worst part was learning that in this time, the Red Force had cloned each of them.</p>
<p>“The clones are...” Junmyeon trailed off, his words failing him for the first time since they’d begun explaining.</p>
<p>“Obsessed with us,” Jongdae inserted. “Completely focused on making our lives hell.”</p>
<p>“It’s more than that, though,” Sehun said, speaking for the first time. “My clone seeks me out and asks me questions about how we think, how we experience things.” He shrugged when everyone turned to look at him. “What? My clone isn’t as crazy as some of yours.”</p>
<p>“Crazy?” Baekhyun choked.</p>
<p>“Oh, they’re batshit insane,” Jongin supplied. “It’s like...I don’t know. I can barely get two coherent words out of Kāi. He mostly expresses things…physically.”</p>
<p>Baekhyun didn’t have the courage to ask him what that meant.</p>
<p>“I think that when they were created to destroy the very thing they were created from, it did something to their minds.” Chanyeol took off the beret covering his pink hair, twirling it around his finger in a gesture incongruous with the serious conversation they were having. “Like, imagine finding out you’re a clone, and then your only objective is to kill the person you were cloned after?”</p>
<p>“That’s their purpose?” Baekhyun reeled. “That’s it?”</p>
<p>“Yeah, pretty depressing, huh?”</p>
<p>“At least none of our clones are as bad as yours or Junmyeon’s,” Jongin added, before looking at Baekhyun with apologetic eyes. “Sorry, didn’t mean to spring that on you.”</p>
<p>“Mine...is the worst?”</p>
<p>Junmyeon shook his head. “No, mine is. By far. Suhø is a sadistic fuck.” He leveled Baekhyun with a solemn look. “But yours is just, cold. And cruel.”</p>
<p>“I…can’t really see that.”</p>
<p>“Well, he got his hands on me,” Jongdae supplied, “and gave me several scars.”</p>
<p>“I—I’m sorry?” Baekhyun didn’t really know what to say, but if it was <em>his</em> clone that had hurt Jongdae, he felt responsible.</p>
<p>“If the rest of our clones are obsessed, yours is dangerously so, but only with you. Or, well, the other you.” Jongdae bit his lip. “Somehow Baëkhyun got it in his mind that the other you and myself were closer than we should be, and he took out his anger on me.”</p>
<p>Baekhyun took a moment to parse through what Jongdae had just said, and then turned to him with wide eyes. “You mean, the other me was fucking you?”</p>
<p>Jongdae’s eyebrows disappeared into his overgrown, curly hair. Tension filled the room. Chanyeol looked away abruptly. “Don’t sound so surprised. You’ll hurt my feelings.”</p>
<p>“Sorry it’s just.” He looked around at all of them, nobody surprised at all that he and Jongdae would have been sleeping together. “Wasn’t your version of me in love with Yixing?” Hesitant nods were his answer. “Then, why would I be sleeping with Jongdae.” He quickly looked at Jongdae. “No offense, of course.”</p>
<p>“None taken.”</p>
<p>“Baekhyun, Yixing died nearly three years ago,” Sehun said softly. “Our Baekhyun has moved on.”</p>
<p>“Oh, I see.” Baekhyun went silent after that, letting Junmyeon pick up talking about the clones. No matter what they said, though, he knew they were wrong. Because no version of him would ever forget about Yixing.</p>
<p>There was no moving on from the love of your life.</p>
<p>*</p>
<p>“Can you make him stop? He’s starting to freak me out.”</p>
<p>“Baek, baby,” Yixing tugged on his arm, pulling him away from Minseok whom he’d been studying intently. “Come on.”</p>
<p>Baekhyun flinched away, still unused to someone touching him with so much affection, even if that small, broken part of him wanted nothing more than to get lost in the feel of Yixing by his side. <em>Alive.</em> “Sorry. I can’t believe they’re alive.” He gestured to Kyungsoo and Minseok. “I mean, they were never confirmed dead in my world, but they may as well be.”</p>
<p><em>That</em> statement had everyone’s attention fixed firmly on him.</p>
<p>“What do you mean?” Kyungsoo asked, voice calm in a way Baekhyun admired, even if his eyes were chaotic with unspoken emotions.</p>
<p>He ran the date Yixing had given him against his memories. “It means that in…ten months you will be taken by the Red Force in a raid, and Minseok two months after that. We never heard from either of you again, had no idea where they’d taken you.”</p>
<p>Stunned silence from everyone.</p>
<p>“It was a horrific loss, to be sure, but more than anything it was the loss of your powers that hurt us in the long run.” He felt nothing as he gazed between eight horrified pairs of eyes. “We didn’t realize how much we needed Minseok’s ice and Kyungsoo’s force until it was gone.”</p>
<p>“Hold on, back up,” Chanyeol said suddenly, his rust colored hair reminiscent of the shade his Junmyeon had made his own for the last few months. “What do you mean, powers?”</p>
<p>He blinked at Chanyeol in confusion, rifled back through his memories, and then cursed. “Oh, we didn’t discover those for another month.”</p>
<p>Well, damage done.</p>
<p>He pulled up some of that light always shimmering in his chest, letting beams of it flicker from his fingertips. “We all have manifests of power.”</p>
<p>“We have what now?” Sehun scrunched his nose, looking at Baekhyun’s glowing fingers with disbelief.</p>
<p>“Manifests. Powers.” He summoned several orbs of light, sending them hovering in the air above the group, illuminating the dim warehouse and the shocked faces around him. “Mine is light, obviously.”</p>
<p>“H-how?” Jongdae was staring up at the lights, his mouth open in surprise.</p>
<p>“I’m not sure,” he hedged. Rather than linger on his half-truth, he moved on. “We discovered them when we started trying to figure out why the Red Force was hunting us down so ruthlessly, and something about needing to be able to <em>fight</em> back broke open some sort of dam, and there was this new well of power inside me. Inside all of us.”</p>
<p>Stunned silence met his explanation.</p>
<p>“And the clones?” Yixing asked him, making Baekhyun startle, unused to hearing his voice anywhere outside of his memories. “You mentioned them earlier.”</p>
<p>He reached for the hilt of his rapier, a long-ingrained reflex at the thought of Baëkhyun appearing near his person. “Six months ago, in my time, the Red Force unleashed clones of those of us still alive to hunt us down and eliminate us.” He shrugged at the horrified looks they all gave him. “Who better to hunt you than yourself?”</p>
<p>Junmyeon ran a hand through hair the color of ash. “So…if you’re really from the future, and you’re here…where is our Baekhyun?”</p>
<p>“And how do we know you’re not the clone?” Kyungsoo asked in that measured, even tone Baekhyun had nearly forgotten.</p>
<p>“If there’s any sense in what happened, then your Baekhyun took my place, in the future. And I’m not a clone. I gave my clone a scar across his nose.”</p>
<p>“But...you could just be saying that,” Jongin reasoned.</p>
<p>“He’s not an evil clone,” Yixing said with quiet authority, crossing his arms over his bare chest. It was an effort not to re-acquaint his hands with the feeling of that smooth skin.</p>
<p>“Yixing would know,” Jongdae mused. “Better than anyone else, probably.”</p>
<p>“I feel like we glossed over the fact that our Baekhyun is <em>in the future,”</em> Sehun hissed, turning wide eyes on the rest of the group. “What do we do?”</p>
<p>“We’re safe enough where we are. At least for now.” Junmyeon pinched the bridge of his nose. “I don’t know how to approach the Baekhyun issue.”</p>
<p>Baekhyun searched his memories, trying to recall other strange events. “Was there an eclipse lately?”</p>
<p>“Why do you ask?” Minseok asked, speaking up for the first time since the conversation began.</p>
<p>“Because if I remember right, we discovered our powers a few nights after a lunar eclipse. Weird shit seems to happen around things like that.”</p>
<p>Chanyeol walked over to a mattress and pulled a battered laptop out from somewhere, powering it up in the tense silence. There was a long moment, then, “There was an eclipse last night.”</p>
<p>“Fuck,” Baekhyun hissed. “Well, that’s probably it.”</p>
<p>“Then, are you stuck here until the next eclipse?” Jongin asked.</p>
<p>More sounds of typing from Chanyeol’s corner, then, “The next eclipse is a solar one, in six months.”</p>
<p>Six months. What was going to happen in the next six months? Why had this happened?</p>
<p>Then, more frightening, would his past self be able to survive the future he’d come from for six months?</p>
<p>“Well, it’s obvious we’re not going to find a solution in the next ten minutes,” Junmyeon reasoned. For a moment Baekhyun saw the leader he would become, how much harder his eyes would be three years from now. “For now, we let Baekhyun settle in, and we figure out what to do next tomorrow.”</p>
<p>“Can you teach us?” Kyungsoo asked, stepping forward.</p>
<p>“Teach you what?” Baekhyun replied.</p>
<p>“How to use our powers?” Kyungsoo traded a look with Minseok, as if they’d already had a conversation about this. “How to access them?”</p>
<p>If he had cared more, he probably would have said no out of some attempt to not disrupt the timeline, or whatever. But if there was a chance...if he could change enough, maybe Yixing wouldn’t die. He looked over, taking in the lines of Yixing’s profile as he talked quietly with Jongdae.</p>
<p>“Yeah, I can teach you.” He felt Yixing step closer. “It might be hard at first, but I’ll get Chanyeol spitting fire in no time. Everyone get up,” Baekhyun ordered, ignoring the sounds of surprise the quip about Chanyeol’s ability elicited. “There’s a lot of shit you need to know.”</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0003"><h2>3. Chapter 3</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>“Hey, you doing okay?”</p><p>Baekhyun lifted his head from his pillow to find Jongdae standing in the doorway of his room. Or what he assumed was his room. There seemed to be plenty of small rooms, each with a bed. He’d found a bin of clothes haphazardly folded, that looked like they’d fit him in his room, but not much else.</p><p>“No,” he answered truthfully.</p><p>“Huh.” Jongdae looked surprised.</p><p>“What?”</p><p>“Nothing, you’re just...more open than our Baekhyun was.” Jongdae stepped further into the room. “Mind if I join you?”</p><p>Baekhyun wordlessly scooched over on the bed, flopping back down as Jongdae sat next to him. “I’m not used to it.”</p><p>“What, the powers?”</p><p>“No, Yixing’s absence.” He stewed for a moment, until Jongdae’s question clicked. “Wait, what do you mean powers?”</p><p>Instead of explaining, Jongdae held up a hand, electricity winding through his fingers. “Yeah, our powers? I assume you’ve come from right before we discovered them, or right after. Baekhyun’s hair didn’t go white until he’d learned how to harness his power.”</p><p>“Holy shit what.”</p><p>Jongdae smirked. “You can control light. Chanyeol is fire, Junmyeon water, Sehun air, Jongin can teleport.” He shrugged. “And then there’s me and you. Lightning and light.”</p><p>“I don’t...feel different.” He looked at his hands. “How would I use them?”</p><p>“It’s different for each of us, but whenever we could get Baekhyun to talk about it he said it was like a well of light shining at the back of his mind,” Jongdae explained. “We can try and train you—we probably should, if you’re going to be facing Baëkhyun anytime soon.”</p><p>Reflexively he reached back for Yixing, expecting to find him at his back, where he was always hovering, only to grasp at air. Devastation hit him all over again, clawing into his heart with jagged, bloody fingers.</p><p>“How am I going to get back?” he whispered. “Why am I here? <em>How </em>am I here?”</p><p>Jongdae didn’t reach out to comfort him in his distress—despite his earlier insistence that he was close with his Baekhyun—and that, more than anything, showed him how very different the future was. How bleak and hardened his team, his <em>brothers,</em> had become.</p><p>“We’ll figure something out.” Jongdae offered whatever paltry assurance he could. “For now…maybe you should rest. The clones haven’t bothered us for a while, so you’re safe enough.”</p><p>He took the out that was offered, even if inside he was crying for companionship and warmth. “Yeah, okay. I’ll rest.” Being alone was better than being with these people who were his brothers and yet were so fundamentally different.</p><p>Jongdae offered a small smile as he stood to leave. “If you need anything, I’ll be in my room down the hall. Junmyeon and Jongin are working on ways to get you home.”</p><p>He just nodded, waiting until Jongdae had slipped from the room before collapsing back onto the bed and bursting into tears, wishing for Yixing.</p><p>*</p><p>At night he dreamed.</p><p>Dreams full of terror, homesickness. Jongdae was there, looking like Baekhyun remembered with his hair overgrown and curling, Junmyeon’s stern looks that hid a deeper concern, the ruby of his hair making him look sallow, the strain of keeping their broken and fracturing group together showing in the subtle slope of his shoulders.</p><p>He dreamed of that dark, smoky world. The future of the world he was currently in. He dreamed of a world without Yixing.</p><p>It was that, more than anything, that had him gasping awake, hands fisted in the sheets, drenched in a cold sweat.</p><p>“Baek?”</p><p>He rolled over, taking in the sight of Yixing next to him, blinking at him groggily. He ran shaking hands over warm skin, tracing the planes of his chest, the dip of his waist, his taut stomach. Yixing watched him with careful eyes, letting Baekhyun touch his fill, until that hollow, aching piece of him where his heart used to beat was satisfied that Yixing was <em>real.</em> He wasn’t a dream.</p><p>Baekhyun didn’t think as he pulled Yixing in for a kiss, a long-healed wound ripping open at the feeling of Yixing’s lips against his own. He dug his fingers into the skin of Yixing’s jaw, desperate to get him closer, nearer; to taste him again. Yixing sighed, opening up under Baekhyun’s frantic onslaught, brushing his tongue gently against Baekhyun’s.</p><p>He choked on a whimper that was half sob at the feeling, overwhelmed by the knowledge that this was <em>Yixing.</em> He was <em>here.</em> His Yixing.</p><p>No.</p><p>Not his.</p><p>The other Baekhyun’s. His was dead.</p><p>He wrenched away with a gasp.</p><p>“I can’t,” he panted, shifting away from Yixing, who watched him with calm, patient eyes. “You’re not…mine.”</p><p>Yixing lifted himself up on an elbow, cocking his head in thought. “Aren’t I?”</p><p>“I—no?” His thoughts slowed from crashing waves of panic to eddies of confusion.</p><p>“To you I may only be a memory brought to life, but I am the same person. According to you, this is <em>your </em>past. Not a different world. <em>Your </em>world, three years ago.”</p><p>It was too dark to see Yixing’s face as he spoke, so Baekhyun summoned a small speck of light to float between them, giving a haunting cast to their features.</p><p>Yixing glanced at the light. “You are…different from the Baekhyun I know, but you’re still him. Still the man I love, so full of hope and kindness, fighting for a better world. It’s all there, all the same, just in a slightly different package now.”</p><p>“I’ve done terrible, awful things. I’m not sure the Baekhyun you just described exists anymore.” He rolled onto his back, staring at his light. “I’m so tired, Xing. Every day is a struggle to keep going, a fight to wake up to a world I’m not sure I care enough about to fight for anymore. You make me sound like a hero, capable of saving the world, but I’m just a tired, broken man with nothing left to fight for.”</p><p>“I don’t believe that,” Yixing insisted. “You’re too stubborn to have given up. Too good.”</p><p>“I’m not.”</p><p>“You <em>are.”</em></p><p><em>“You died!” </em>Baekhyun shouted, startling them both with the force of his words. “You died in my arms, and in that moment a part of me died with you. And I’ve never gotten it back. Sure, I’ve patched myself back together, spackled the cracks and the holes until I look like a whole, functioning human capable of fighting a war I no longer care if I win, but fundamentally? I am broken.” He turned to look at Yixing, unsurprised to find the stricken gaze fixed on him. “You died, and I wish you’d taken me with you. Because a world without you isn’t worth living in.”</p><p>Whatever he’d expected Yixing to say at the end of his outburst, it wasn’t, “Then don’t let me die.”</p><p>“What?”</p><p>“You know how it happens, right? When and where, what leads up to it.” His measured, even voice soaked into every pore, soothing Baekhyun. “It’s all memory for you. You <em>know, </em>Baekhyun. So keep it from happening.”</p><p>“I—” When Yixing put it like that it sounded so obvious. So simple. He was right, and Baekhyun realized he wasn’t surprised at all because Yixing had always been right. “You’re right.”</p><p>“I was thinking about it all day while you were teaching the others how to access their powers. Whatever cosmic forces swapped you with our Baekhyun did us a favor, I think. Or maybe they’re as eager to see our world fixed as we are and put things in motion for it to happen, because with all the knowledge you have about the past we stand a chance of ending the Red Force before it all goes to shit.”</p><p>His mind spun out in a dozen different directions at once as he considered Yixing’s words. “If the theories about this being a result of the eclipses are correct, I have six months to change the past enough to save my future.” It could be done, if he had Yixing by his side.</p><p>“We,” Yixing corrected softly, slipping his fingers through Baekhyun’s. “We have six months.”</p><p>Emotions surged up his throat, robbing him of the ability to speak as he nodded and squeezed Yixing’s fingers.</p><p>“Do I have powers?” Yixing asked, once Baekhyun had calmed down. “You didn’t mention me earlier.”</p><p>Baekhyun shifted as Yixing carefully slid a hand under his neck, pulling their bodies close. He recalled his light, letting it soak back into his skin, finding it easier to be close to Yixing when darkness covered them like a blanket.</p><p>“You do,” he answered carefully, knowing he was walking a dangerous line. “You have the ability to heal.”</p><p>Yixing’s hand found his between their bodies. “Why didn’t you mention it earlier?” He gently gripped Baekhyun’s wrist, as if he could coax out the words with the ease of his touch.</p><p>“Because,” Baekhyun said so, so carefully. “I didn’t want the others to think they could act recklessly. Knowing you have someone in your corner that can heal your injuries tends to enable stupid behavior.”</p><p>Yixing hummed thoughtfully, then, “You’re lying.”</p><p>Baekhyun became very aware of all the places Yixing was touching him. “You already have your powers.” He jerked his wrist out of Yixing’s hold. “You were monitoring my pulse to see if I’d lie.” He suddenly wished for light, needing to see Yixing’s expression.</p><p>Yixing only blinked at the sudden glow that suffused the room. He didn’t appear contrite at all. “I know you, Baekhyun. Better than anyone, no matter what version of you is in front of me. I can tell when I’m stepping into a minefield.”</p><p>Another memory shoved itself forward for consideration. “You didn’t learn how to tell if someone was lying until we’d had our powers for three months.”</p><p>Yixing’s smile was full of sly mischief. “That’s probably when I revealed it to everyone.”</p><p>Baekhyun’s entire view of Yixing shifted slightly, and maybe it was the two and a half years of fighting the Red Force he had on Yixing, or the year of trying to stay one step ahead of his manipulative, evil clone that made him see it, but, “You’re devious.”</p><p>He was, if possible, more attracted to Yixing now</p><p>“Are you going to tell me what you were trying to hide earlier? Or am I going to have to guess?”</p><p>“It’s not that easy.” The truth of what Yixing was, what they <em>both </em>were, was such a closely held secret he didn’t know how to speak it aloud. He’d never even told Jongdae.</p><p>“You don’t trust me yet,” Yixing surmised.</p><p>He opened his mouth to deny it, because Yixing had been the <em>one </em>person he’d always trusted except…he couldn’t. “I’m sorry,” he whispered, feeling the devastation roll through him like a slow clap of thunder. “I think my clone has broken the ability to trust others.”</p><p>Yixing only watched him with calm eyes. “What have they done to you?” Yixing’s hand was a gentle caress against his cheek.</p><p>“Nothing I’m ready to talk about,” Baekhyun muttered, trying to suppress the shiver the very visceral memory of Baëkhyun stabbing him in the shoulder with his own rapier produced every time. His shoulder still hurt when it rained. “Nothing good. Ever.”</p><p>Yixing pulled him in closer, brushing their noses together. “So, are you going to tell me what you’re so cleverly deflecting away from?”</p><p>Baekhyun relaxed into Yixing’s hold, allowing himself the indulgence of steeping in memory under the cover of darkness. Then again, the world seemed perpetually dark no matter what point in time he was. “I will,” he decided.</p><p>“But not yet.”</p><p>“Not yet.”</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0004"><h2>4. Chapter 4</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Baekhyun spent two days wallowing before Junmyeon barged into his room and said, “Enough. You’ve been stewing in here over a man who’s been dead for two years, and we can’t afford to have you out of action anymore. We’re fighting a war here, or have you forgotten?”</p><p>Baekhyun threw a pillow at him. “Leave me alone, Jun.”</p><p>Junmyeon dodged the pillow and sent a jet of water directly into his face. “I will not let you be the reason this team falls apart. Get your ass out of bed before I have Chanyeol light it on fire; you’ve got training to do.”</p><p>Baekhyun didn’t give a shit about training. He didn’t care that the fight he’d been willing to bleed and die for<em>—had </em>bled for—was still going three years later. The only reason he had for giving up everything to save the war-torn world he’d been living in was gone, and there was no getting him back.</p><p>There wasn’t anything worth fighting for without Yixing.</p><p>“Maybe he can set me on fire too,” Baekhyun snarked back. “I’d rather that then live whatever life this is.”</p><p>Junmyeon’s mouth thinned into an unimpressed line. “Baek, I remember this version of you. I know how much you loved him, and that this can’t be easy. But we’re already outnumbered even with you in the picture. We need you up and fighting.”</p><p>Junmyeon’s attempt at guilting him into action was working, but Baekhyun was stubborn and reeling and so, so empty of any feeling other than grief. And rage.</p><p>And pain. So much pain.</p><p>So, rather than crawling out of bed and soldiering on like the good little trooper he was, he let all the rage and pain—thus far bottled deep inside— come roaring to the surface, freed in two simple words:</p><p>“Get out!” he screamed, and the whole world went white around him.</p><p> </p><p>When he came to, Jongdae was speaking at the speed of light while the other figures of his team rushed in and out of his vision. He blinked the black spots away until he could see clearly, and then almost wished he couldn’t. Junmyeon was crumpled in the doorway, Sehun kneeling at his side and tugging at his clothes in brisk, efficient ways.</p><p>Chanyeol was behind him, the rattle and hum of his voice loud in Baekhyun’s ears, muscled arms like bands around his body, pinning him in place. Jongin appeared briefly to duck down and murmur with Sehun before vanishing once again. Finally, he turned his hazy, shell-shocked focus to Jongdae.</p><p>“What happened?”</p><p>Jongdae’s mouth thinned. “You found your powers, that’s what. Rather spectacularly at that.”</p><p>Baekhyun tucked that away for another time as more pressing questions surfaced, such as, “Why is Chanyeol pinning me?”</p><p>“Because I’m the only one who can stand touching you,” Chanyeol rumbled.</p><p>Pushing the sting of that aside, Baekhyun kept his focus on Jongdae, who added, “Your body is so hot to the touch the rest of us would get burned. Chanyeol is the only one who can stand it.”</p><p>He blinked a few times. “Why?”</p><p>Jongdae’s brows drew together. “Do you remember what happened?”</p><p>“You mean Junmyeon coming in and trying to guilt me into training, and me yelling at him? Yes, I do.”</p><p>“What about the part where you exploded like a solar flare and burned Junmyeon to a crisp?” Sehun fired off, acerbic, eyes narrowing to slits. “You could have <em>killed </em>him.” He turned back to what he was doing, muttering, “I wish we had Yixing to heal him.”</p><p>“I did <em>what</em> now?”</p><p>“Sehun, take a breath, his powers will heal the worst of it,” Jongdae ordered as Jongin appeared by Sehun’s side, bandages and tubes of ointment in his hands. “It would seem you chose a rather inopportune moment to access your powers,” Jongdae said, turning back to him. “Yeol, is he cooled down yet?”</p><p>“Getting there. It would be faster if Minseok were here.”</p><p>Baekhyun felt every reminder that there were members of his team just…gone, deeply. Deep gouges in his heart that leaked misery with every beat.</p><p>“Baekhyun,” Jongdae coaxed, drawing his focus outward again. “I need you to focus right now. You need to pull your power back. Reel it in, like you’re winding yarn into a ball,” he instructed when all he received from Baekhyun was a look of confusion. “You’re burning up, and…glowing.”</p><p>He nodded, breathing deeply and trying to do what Jongdae said. “Our Baekhyun always referred to his power like it was a pool or well inside himself,” Jongdae continued as Baekhyun closed his eyes, focusing inward. “However it appears to you, it’s going to be part of your inner landscape, so go there.”</p><p>He nearly laughed. Currently, his inner landscape was a wasteland, the result of an atom bomb named Yixing’s death detonating on his soul. Braving the pain, he let his attention drift further into his own mind, until Sehun’s frustrated muttering and the feel of Chanyeol’s arms around his chest faded into white noise.</p><p>All around him his world burned, ash floating in the air like grey snow, much like his reality on the worst days. He looked around, searching for whatever Jongdae insisted had been there. Out of the corner of his eye, something flashed, and he turned to the distant horizon of his mind, spotting a light that winked in and out of sight like an elusive star in the night sky.</p><p>In the span of a heartbeat, he found himself at the edge of that light, looking down into a pool of shimmering light, liquid and ephemeral all at once. He glanced around, but there was nothing but barren soil around him. At a loss for what to do, he mentally shrugged and took a running leap into the pool.</p><p><em>So this is what raw power feels like, </em>he thought, sinking into cool, quiet oblivion. It beckoned him deeper, and he felt the pull of it, like it wanted him to explore until he hit the bottom. He didn’t have time for that, though. Instead he kicked for the surface, breaking through and taking a deep breath of ashy air, watching as his power slid off his skin like liquid moonlight, warm and cold at once, wholly his to command.</p><p>Taking another deep breath, Baekhyun opened his eyes, looking for those silvery tendrils of his power in the room. It was easy to pull it all in, to gather it in that pool of power where it belonged, lapping at the edges of his soul, soothing the burning that raged there.</p><p>Chanyeol’s arms released him, and Junmyeon woke with a gasp.</p><p>“Fucking <em>shit,” </em>Junmyeon swore, sitting bolt upright and scaring Sehun out of his skin. Now that he was mostly upright, Baekhyun could see the blistered skin. It looked like Junmyeon had been left to bake in the sun, his exposed skin a horrifying shade of red. But even as he watched, the red faded, blisters soothed away almost as quickly as they’d come.</p><p>“The water allows him to heal,” Jongdae murmured, somehow sensing Baekhyun’s confusion. He was eerily attuned to what Baekhyun was feeling. “Himself, most easily, but he can also soothe surface injuries we pick up.”</p><p>“Baekhyun, what in the <em>hell </em>was that?” Junmyeon asked him, gently shrugging off Sehun’s hands. “I’ve never seen power of that magnitude come from you.”</p><p>“That,” Jongdae mused, “was Baekhyun’s power manifesting for the first time.” He shared a wry glance with Chanyeol over his shoulder. “Again.”</p><p>“With our Baekhyun, it manifested mid-fight with some Red Force grunts,” Chanyeol supplied. “Jun, you were busy trying to help Sehun free on the other side of the warehouse, but a grunt came after Yixing with a riot stick and Baekhyun went nuclear. It was like a flash grenade went off.”</p><p>Junmyeon slowly got to his feet. “Well, it’s certainly not an experience I want to repeat.” He took the black shirt Sehun was holding out to him and yanked it on, the material molding to the now healed planes of his chest and stomach. “Baekhyun, you’re in training starting tomorrow. I don’t care how you feel; you need it.”</p><p>The bed shifted as Chanyeol stood, cold air rushing to Baekhyun’s back now that Chanyeol’s warmth wasn’t pressed against it. “Jongin, let’s go check the perimeter, make sure nothing got through while we were occupied.”</p><p>Jongin nodded once, and Baekhyun marveled yet again at the smooth, unmarred skin of his face. The cut that had slashed across Jongin’s face—the Jongin he remembered—was still healing and an angry red against the caramel of his skin. But the Jongin that reached out a hand to Chanyeol was smooth skinned and glowing like a bronze statue. Chanyeol’s fingers brushed his, and they were gone.</p><p>Junmyeon left with one more warning to Baekhyun about training whether or not he wanted it, Sehun tugging him away with a desperate sort of hunger in his eyes that came from almost losing something precious.</p><p>He turned to Jongdae in the ensuing silence, whose familiar, warm brown eyes were roving over his features. “Tell me about the clones,” Baekhyun demanded.</p><p>*</p><p>He was more prepared, this time, when he woke up to the sensation of an arm looping around his waist, pulling him snugly against a warm body. To his credit, Baekhyun <em>didn’t</em> immediately go for his rapier, although it was a close thing.</p><p>Instead he flinched, full-bodied and obvious, and then held his breath while he waited to see if he’d woken up Yixing.</p><p>“I know you’re awake,” Yixing said softly, his lips tracing the words against his shoulder, heat seeping through his shirt.</p><p>Baekhyun’s breath left him in a woosh, forcing his muscles to relax in Yixing’s hold. A day was not nearly enough time to undo the reflexes his clone had ingrained in him, and most of him was still marveling over the fact that he had Yixing again.</p><p>Even if it was only temporary.</p><p>Baekhyun shook off his musings, letting an all-too familiar iciness fill his veins, steeling himself against the new weakness of Yixing’s presence. There weren’t clones to worry about, but their world had been plenty dangerous before the threat of them had been introduced. It was too much of a reflex to drop the armor he carried around him. If he was going to set the right events in motion, he couldn’t be distracted by the lure of Yixing’s warm skin at his back.</p><p>“Come on, then,” Baekhyun said, shrugging out of Yixing’s hold and rolling to his feet. “We have work to do.”</p><p>Something like hurt flashed in Yixing’s eyes, but Baekhyun ignored it, reaching for the fitted black cotton shirts they were using at this point in time—bulkier than the streamlined fabric his team had gotten their hands on a year ago, that allowed for more movement and breathability—securing his rapier at his hip, the glint of steel eye-catching against the black pants. Only then did he allow himself a glance at Yixing, who was slowly pulling clothes on, his eyes scanning Baekhyun like he could pick apart all the ways in which he was different from his past self.</p><p>Many, by his own count. But Yixing didn’t know the half of it, and he was far less willing to divulge his secrets when watery sunlight was filling the room, and not the safety of darkness. It was a strange irony, that he, possessed with the ability of light, was more at home in the dark.</p><p>He turned to leave the room, freezing when Yixing grabbed his wrist.</p><p>“Baek, wait.”</p><p>Bracing himself, Baekhyun turned back to face Yixing. “What.”</p><p>Yixing crowded him against the door, giving him a second to prepare before he kissed him. Somewhere deep in his chest, the shredded, shrapnel pieces of his heart shuddered as Yixing coaxed his lips apart with gentle tugs of his teeth and careful swipes of his tongue. Yixing’s hands settled on his hips, pinning him against the door and pressing closer when he gasped, sweeping into his mouth when he had the chance.</p><p>Baekhyun’s hands were a second ahead of his brain, tangled in the thick black of Yixing’s hair before he could stop himself, kissing him back like a man starved, desperate for every ounce of Yixing he could have. In the moment, nothing else mattered except the drag of Yixing’s teeth against his bottom lip.</p><p>He gasped, tugging at Yixing’s hair as he let the kiss take a meaner, more desperate edge he couldn’t ever remember kissing Yixing with. Something he’d learned from his clone, no doubt, and yet the harsh bite to Yixing’s jaw got him a choked moan, fingers digging into Baekhyun’s hips. Baekhyun let his fingers slip from Yixing’s hair, only to drag them down his back as he mouthed at his neck, fingers like claws, desperate for skin that he was denied by layers of clothes.</p><p>Yixing used one hand to grab a fistful of Baekhyun’s hair, panting as he pulled him away from his neck, their eyes meeting for an intense, heated second. Yixing quirked an eyebrow. With a snarl, Baekhyun centered his weight and spun, slamming Yixing into the door, one hand cushioning his head from colliding against the cold metal. The feeling that rushed through him when their mouths crashed together made him shudder, Yixing gasping into his mouth and pulling at his clothes.</p><p>The kiss turned dirty quickly, a clash of tongues as they each fought for the most control, equally desperate for a taste of each other. Baekhyun worked one hand between the door and Yixing’s back, slipping beneath his shirt to dig his fingers into the damp skin at the hollow of his spine. Yixing groaned, hooking a knee around Baekhyun’s hip and tugging him closer, arousal swirling and obvious between them. Baekhyun rolled his hips in a slow grind, a shiver working through him at the sensation and the moan Yixing let slip.</p><p>“Baek, please.”</p><p>Baekhyun had never once been able to deny Yixing. Not in the past, and certainly not now when every bit of him was compromised. Everything he’d locked away never to see the light again, every treasured moment, every faded memory of the sounds he’d once coaxed from Yixing came rushing to the surface. A desperation to reacquaint himself with those sounds, the feel of Yixing against him, moving with him, two souls twinned and aligned in a singular, overwhelming need, roared through him.</p><p>“On the bed,” he ordered, pulling away after one last, sweeping kiss, herding Yixing to the bed.</p><p>Yixing gave him a smug smile, like Baekhyun was giving him exactly what he’d wanted, and a thousand memories from years ago surfaced of Yixing wearing the same expression, most of them during sex. “Where do you want me, babe?”</p><p>“On your knees,” Baekhyun decided after a moment. He didn’t have the patience to remove Yixing’s clothes, yanking his pants down his thighs once he was settled on the bed, everything he needed exposed. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Yixing toss something at his head, and he caught it reflexively. It was lube, half empty.</p><p>They always had been ravenous for each other.</p><p>“I don’t have the restraint for slow and gentle,” Baekhyun warned, opening the bottle with a faint click. “I know it’s probably only been a few days for you, but it’s been almost three years since I did this with you, for me.” He warmed the lube on his fingers, waiting for Yixing to acknowledge what he’d said.</p><p>Yixing braced himself on his forearms, his back arching in a way that made arousal slam into Baekhyun’s gut like a punch. He looked over his shoulder. “Take what you need, baby. I can handle it.”</p><p>Without any preamble, Baekhyun pushed two slick fingers in, Yixing gasping and shuddering as Baekhyun set a brisk, efficient pace. The need to feel Yixing around him buzzed under his skin, rushing his movements, patience a quality for a different time. As soon as he could, he slid a third finger in, his free hand wrapping around to grip Yixing’s cock, stroking slowly even as his fingers rushed to stretch him out. It was almost muscle memory, finding Yixing’s prostate. Yixing yelped when he found it, grinding his hips back to get more sensation from Baekhyun’s fingers. Baekhyun ground his still clothed erection against Yixing’s leg, promising more as his fingers worked steadily.</p><p>“You’re just as perfect as I remembered,” Baekhyun groaned, letting his fingers slip free and working to undo the pants he’d just put on not fifteen minutes ago. He shuddered as he pulled himself free from his underwear, slick fingers fumbling with the lube for a moment before he got enough out to coat himself and drizzle a little more over Yixing’s entrance, not caring if it was messy.</p><p>Sliding into Yixing was heartbreaking and healing in equal measure. He fisted a hand in the sheets by Yixing’s elbow, muscles quivering as he held himself still above Yixing, taking deep, steadying inhales, mouth against the nape of Yixing’s neck. When he felt like he wasn’t going to dissolve into starlight on the spot, he began to move, slowly working up to a fast, brutal pace.</p><p>He gripped at Yixing’s waist, sliding his shirt up to expose the length of his back, setting his teeth into the curve of his shoulder blade, biting down hard enough to leave a mark as Yixing groaned beneath him, his fingers flexing against the bedding. He leaned back, the angle of his hips shifting, and Yixing yelped as Baekhyun slid in deeply at the right angle.</p><p>“Right there,” Yixing gasped, balancing his weight on one arm as the other went to stroke himself in time with Baekhyun’s hips. He helped brace Yixing’s weight, supporting more of his torso with his arms as he kept his hips steady and even.</p><p>Yixing came first, and the quiet moan alone was enough to bring Baekhyun to the edge, but it was the way Yixing clenched around him, spasming slightly that sent him over, tumbling into a pleasure so satisfying he lost his grip on the present to slump against Yixing.</p><p>Yixing collapsed under him, huffing into the sheets as he caught his breath. Baekhyun rolled over, Yixing groaning as he slid free, and tucked himself back into his pants, doing them up again. Yixing squirmed as he sat up, and he pulled him up and used the sheet to wipe down his stomach from his release before getting them both to their feet and helping Yixing redress.</p><p>“It’s been a while since you went that fast and hard,” Yixing commented, tucking his shirt in.</p><p>Baekhyun tried not to take that as an insult. “I’m not sure I remember another way,” he admitted, licking the front of his teeth. “Between what happened to you and the clones…there isn’t much room left for affection.”</p><p>Yixing leaned forward, capturing his mouth in a soft, gentle glide of lips that had some long-forgotten part of him curling up in contentment like a cat in the sun, purring. He melted into the kiss, getting lost in how Yixing teased at his lips and sucked on his tongue, his hands coming up to cradle Baekhyun’s jaw in a way that made him feel protected and loved.</p><p>It was heady, that feeling. He swayed after Yixing when he pulled away, opening his eyes to see him smiling sweetly, his dimples making fondness coat Baekhyun’s mouth like sugar. “I don’t believe you,” Yixing whispered, placing a last, sticky kiss to Baekhyun’s lips. “I’ve always known how to make you melt; no amount of time could ever change the way I know you better than myself, Byun Baekhyun.” Another kiss, slower than before, until Baekhyun was swaying into Yixing, hungry for more of the honey dripping from Yixing’s tongue.</p><p>“Besides,” Yixing added, after another series of slow kisses. “I liked how rough you were.”</p><p>Baekhyun shivered at the hunger in his tone, raw desire in his eyes. “Noted.”</p><p>A knock at the door made them both jump.</p><p>“Guys, training?” Kyungsoo prompted through the door. “We’re all awake and ready when Future Baekhyun is.”</p><p>“Come on, then,” Yixing prompted, taking his hand. “They’re waiting.”</p><p>Baekhyun let Yixing lead him from the room.</p>
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<a name="section0005"><h2>5. Chapter 5</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>For a week, Baekhyun threw himself into training so thoroughly that he didn’t have time to think about Yixing except for the scant moments between wakefulness and sleep. In his conscious hours if he wasn’t eating, he was training, and if he wasn’t training, he was deep in his mind, exploring that well of power to see how deep it went.</p><p>He had yet to reach the bottom.</p><p>Each night he went to sleep exhausted, hardly able to move, his muscles aching and sore. He’d thought he was strong. That he was capable of handling whatever was thrown his way by the Red Force, but the week he’d spent with his future team had shown him how unprepared he’d really been.</p><p>In the future...when he currently was, his team was <em>strong.</em> They consistently put him on his ass, and if they weren’t making him dodge the blasts from their various powers, he was dodging their fists and kicks.</p><p>And, if by some miracle he was able to keep his eyes open after a day full of training and mental straining, he sat down with Jongdae and made him tell him everything he knew about their clones.</p><p>But most specifically, Baëkhyun.</p><p>At first, Jongdae had only told him the bare minimum. Obvious things Baekhyun had already pieced together himself based on what everyone else had said. But the more he pressed, the more Jongdae opened up, confessing horror after horror until Baekhyun was so uneasy sleep evaded even his weary body one night.</p><p>It wasn’t the violence. He was used to the idea of torture, of excessive force and violence being used by him and against him. What unnerved him the most were the stories Jongdae had told him of finding Baekhyun pinned by Chën while Baëkhyun...<em>examined</em> him to see how far the similarities went. If they looked the same, sounded the same, kissed the same.</p><p>“Something went wrong with them, we think,” Jongdae explained in hushed tones. The main room of whatever complex they were in was empty, but it was an open space nonetheless. “They’re obsessed, and not in a healthy way.”</p><p> </p><p>“Is there a way to be healthily obsessed?” Baekhyun mused.</p><p>Jongdae gave him a flat look. “You know what I mean. It’s like...they don’t understand their purpose for existing, and they’re constantly trying to find it in us.”</p><p>Baekhyun took a moment to let that brain teaser sink in. “But I thought they were meant to kill you? Isn’t that their purpose for existing?”</p><p>Jongdae shrugged. “Yes. But think about what that would do to you, to your mind. To your soul.” He leaned closer. “Jongin’s clone? Kāi? He barely speaks. Sometimes he’ll appear and whisk Jongin away. He always returns him, usually a few hours later. Jongin doesn’t say much about where they go, but he’s said that Kāi is extremely tactile. Communicates through touch more than speech, probably because he doesn’t trust any other form of communication. Apparently, bodies don’t lie.”</p><p>“What about the others?”</p><p>“It’s different for each of them. Each of us react differently to stress and strain, and the clones are no different. In a way, it’s like seeing every horrible thing you’re capable of reflected back at you with no mercy. Junmyeon’s clone scares us the most. We don’t see Suhø often, but the few times he’s gotten his hands on Junmyeon or—heaven forbid—Sehun, they’ve come back to us covered in blood, unable to move or speak for days.” Jongdae looked away, something haunted in his gaze. “They’ve never spoken to us about it, although I imagine they’ve talked to each other.”</p><p>They were silent for a moment while Baekhyun digested that. Jongdae continued, “The relationship Sehun has with his clone is almost, well, civil doesn’t seem quite right but it is. They speak fairly regularly, although they do sporadically try to kill each other. I think it depends entirely on their moods. Sehůn is also fond of Junmyeon, although he’d never admit it. He could have easily killed him twice over, but he never has. None of us have tried to guess if he has a relationship with Suhø.</p><p>“Yeollie’s clone is…temperamental. They usually just throw fire at each other until one of them collapses, then sulk off and pout about it for a few days. Chanyeøl will attempt to kill you on sight,” Jongdae warned.</p><p>“Which just leaves our clones.”</p><p>“Just!” Jongdae burst into laughter devoid of any real humor. “The others…their clones mostly keep to themselves when they’re not interacting with their originals, but ours…” he trailed off, and the haunted look was back. “Our clones are almost joined at the hip. If they’re not fucking each other, they’re trying to fuck one of us.”</p><p>Baekhyun could almost feel himself blanch. “H-have you ever…?” Jongdae gave him a “what do you think?” kind of look. Baekhyun recoiled. “Ugh?”</p><p>“You say that like I was given much of a choice.” He grimaced. “It’s not so bad when it’s your clone that wants me, or mine that wants you. It’s easier to pretend. But when Chën decides he wants a piece of me he usually has Baëkhyun hold you at knife point.” Empty eyes met Baekhyun’s. “We’ve all done what we’ve needed to survive and keep each other alive. And we’ll keep doing it.”</p><p>He nodded slowly. He could understand the rationalization. But, “If they’re supposed to kill us, why aren’t they? Isn’t the Red Force controlling them?”</p><p>“I don’t think the Red Force ever had a chance to control them. They gave them their prime directive and sent them after us. They mostly let the clones do what they want, and they keep us busy enough that we have a hard time strategizing around what the Red Force has planned, which serves their purpose just as well, I suppose.”</p><p>“Seems like a waste of resources to me,” Baekhyun muttered.</p><p>Jongdae arched an eyebrow. “That’s kinda cold, Baek. They’re still human.”</p><p>“But humans created to kill us. I doubt the Red Force sees them as anything other than misbehaving tools, we shouldn’t either.”</p><p>“You sound like my Baekhyun,” Jongdae said, searching his eyes. “He’d say that.”</p><p>Baekhyun made a face. “We <em>are</em> the same person, Dae.”</p><p>He was wholly unprepared for the kiss Jongdae pulled him into. He squeaked, freezing for a second while his brain tried to process what was happening. Jongdae’s fingers were in his hair, lips coaxing his lips apart. Jongdae pulled on the hair at the back of his head and he gasped, giving Jongdae the chance to sweep into his mouth fast as lightning, By the time his brain caught up, Baekhyun was kissing him back, starved for human connection, his fingers gripping at the collar of Jongdae’s shirt and pulling him closer.</p><p>Jongdae moaned into his mouth, licking at the back of his teeth, one hand leaving his hair to grip at Baekhyun’s hip, possessive. Baekhyun, possessed by something foreign and more than a little angry, bit down on Jongdae’s bottom lip, tugging harshly as he pulled away. Jongdae’s eyes were glassy and dazed when he finally opened them.</p><p>Baekhyun stood, untangling himself from Jongdae’s hands as he did. “Don’t try that again, Dae.”</p><p>He left the room without looking back, locking himself in his room and mechanically getting ready to sleep, finding it as soon as his head hit the pillow.</p><p> </p><p>He woke up when someone got into bed with him. His eyes snapped open, darkness surrounding him as an arm snaked around his waist, pulling him snug against a warm, hard body.</p><p>“Jongdae. I was serious. Don’t push your luck.”</p><p>Lips ghosted across the back of his neck, and he was about to roll over and blast Jongdae with light so hot it would burn, when teeth clamped down over his shoulder. He hissed, arching against Jongdae and trying to get away, but any movement resulted in the teeth digging in deeper until he felt his skin give way. He yelped, falling still. This was <em>not</em> the Jongdae he knew.</p><p>Maybe the clones weren’t the only deranged ones in the future.</p><p>The teeth released him when he’d been still a moment, a tongue rasping over the puncture wounds. “That’s a good boy.”</p><p>That wasn’t Jongdae’s voice. It was <em>his</em> voice.</p><p>Which meant one thing: Baëkhyun.</p><p>Thinking quickly, he relaxed his body, waiting for Baëkhyun to relax his own hold. “I wasn’t expecting you,” he rasped. His biggest advantage right now was that his clone didn’t know he was the wrong Baekhyun and would therefore, hopefully, react differently.</p><p>“You never are, baby. It’s why I’m always one step ahead.”</p><p>Baekhyun threw an elbow back, hard enough to punch the air out of Baëkhyun’s lungs, rolling out of bed and making a desperate bid for the door. He made it two steps before Baëkhyun was tackling him into the floor, snarling.</p><p>“We’ve talked about this, haven’t we? I could have sworn last time we did this dance I told you I’d stab you with that pretty little rapier of yours if you fought me.”</p><p>Baekhyun squirmed and only succeeded in getting himself pinned on his back, Baëkhyun a ghost above him. Long, cold fingers curled around his wrists, eerily familiar and foreign all at once.</p><p>“You seem different tonight Baekkie. What is it?” Baëkhyun tilted his head like a jungle cat. He went preternaturally still. An orb of light burst into existence, blinding Baekhyun like a flash grenade.</p><p>He blinked rapidly, trying to clear the black spots from his vision. Baëkhyun came into focus slowly, staring down at him in outraged confusion. He took in the hair hanging in his ice-blue eyes, bone white and silky, a delicate chain resting over the bridge of his nose and looping over his ears. He was breathtaking in his frigid beauty, a prince sculpted from ice.</p><p>A cruel, wicked prince.</p><p>“You’re not my original,” he condemned, his words a death knell.</p><p>Baekhyun stared into that glacial blue, so cold it burned, and couldn’t think of a single thing to say.</p><p>“Give me one reason why I shouldn’t kill you right here,” Baëkhyun ordered.</p><p>Baekhyun closed his eyes and waited for the killing blow.</p><p>*</p><p>A week of training his past team members made it clear to Baekhyun that they were not as strong as he thought they’d been. In his memories, they’d been fighting the Red Force and not dying, so he’d equated that to success.</p><p>But by his standards now, oh, they were so unprepared.</p><p>It was probably why Yixing had been killed, and Minseok and Kyungsoo captured shortly thereafter. They were children playing war games.</p><p>He hoped that discovering their powers earlier would help him change the future but based on the little success they’d had in <em>accessing</em> said power, he wasn’t incredibly optimistic. At least they were responding well to the physical training he’d been putting them through.</p><p>Chanyeol hadn’t believed him when he’d said he could put any of their asses in the dirt at the beginning of the week. He’d gone out of his way to prove he could. Repeatedly.</p><p>“I hope you take this the wrong way, but you’re <em>mean,”</em> Chanyeol wheezed from the ground, still trying to get his lungs to work properly.</p><p>Baekhyun crouched over him, something close to a smile tugging at his lips. “Thanks, sparky. Maybe one day you’ll be able to best me.”</p><p>Chanyeol’s scowl made something akin to amusement threaten to surface, but he pushed it aside and stood again, turning to the rest of the room. “The rest of you, back to finding your powers.”</p><p>Yixing sidled up to him as he was wiping his face with a towel. “Driving them a bit hard, don’t you think?”</p><p>Baekhyun slanted a gaze at him. “I’m trying to save your life. I wouldn’t think you’d have a problem with how I went about doing so.”</p><p>“You might want to be more careful with your chess pieces, is all I’m saying,” Yixing said softly. “They can only take so much. Slowly, by degrees.”</p><p>“We don’t have time for degrees,” he snapped. “From this point on, all I remember from what happens is that it was non-stop running and fighting, and we weren’t prepared. If there’s a chance I can change that, I’ll do whatever it takes to do so.” He lowered his voice. “And if you’d just <em>tell</em> them how you discovered and started using your powers, it might help them learn.”</p><p>“And you can’t?” Yixing shot back.</p><p>Baekhyun summoned what little patience he had to avoid snapping at the man who was slowly warming his heart into something functioning again. “My powers manifested in a moment of extreme duress, and short of throwing them directly at a group of Red Force soldiers, I don’t know how to help them.” He was only a little snippy. Considering how downright homicidal he’d been feeling lately, he counted it a massive win.</p><p>Yixing sucked at his teeth. “You need an outlet for all that aggression. It’s not healthy and you’re taking it out on the others.”</p><p>He darted a glance at where the rest of them were ostensibly trying to access their powers, although it mostly looked like they were sitting in a circle and making a poor attempt at looking uninterested in what he and Yixing were so heatedly discussing. He quirked an eyebrow at them, causing an avalanche of diverted eyes, before letting more of the cold simmering in his gut seep into his eyes.</p><p>“Are you offering yourself as an outlet?”</p><p>Yixing—as he knew he would be—was visibly unaffected by the subtle threat in Baekhyun’s voice. Something like fierce pride for how strong the love of his life was welled in the empty spaces between his ribs before he could stop it, even as Yixing said, “I told you, you can take whatever you need from me.”</p><p>He flashed a grin that was more teeth than anything. Other than sleep in the same bed—when sleep was a possibility for Baekhyun—nothing had happened since that first morning. And while he convinced himself he had no feelings one way or another about what had transpired between them, the tang of guilt still lingered in this mouth.</p><p>Why he felt guilt toward his past self he wasn’t sure. He didn’t have time to think about it. He pressed his tongue to the back of his teeth and let out a piercing whistle, eight pairs of eyes snapping to him.</p><p>“Let’s see what progress you’ve managed to make,” he instructed, gesturing for them to get up off the floor. “First one to use their powers against me gets to take a break from training tomorrow.”</p><p>Yixing drifted quietly to the edges of the group, looking content to watch Baekhyun hand the rest of the team their asses.</p><p>“Come on,” he goaded, his eyes meeting each of theirs in turn. “I’ll go easy on you,” he lied.</p><p>The false assurance must have worked, because Minseok stepped forward, determination in his eyes. Baekhyun settled his stance, steadying his breathing and finding his center of gravity. He hadn’t fought Minseok in a long time, but from what he remembered he was a crafty little bitch.</p><p>Unlike Chanyeol, Minseok merely paced around Baekhyun, waiting for an opening and watching him with those steady, cool eyes. Maybe they <em>had</em> learned from Chanyeol’s ungraceful example.</p><p>With very little warning, Minseok managed to shoot a snowball at Baekhyun’s head. While it wasn’t the most impressive he’d ever seen from Minseok—nothing like the whirlwinds of ice and snow he’d be capable of in a month or so—they had to start somewhere. It barely took anything at all for him to dissolve the snow in a burst of light, the faintest exhalation of his power.</p><p>Deep down, his power cracked an eye open, a slumbering dragon preparing to wake at the sudden use. He soothed it back to sleep. <em>Not yet,</em> he whispered. He didn’t need anything except what he could skim from the surface of the well, enough to keep the pressure valve from whistling under the strain.</p><p>Minseok looked disappointed as his snowball was misted. “Good job,” Baekhyun praised, meeting his eyes. “You’re exempt from training tomorrow.”</p><p>“I can go again,” Minseok insisted, unsatisfied with his own performance if Baekhyun were to guess.</p><p>Baekhyun shook his head. “I don’t need to see anymore. You’ve succeeded in today’s lesson, but if you want to keep practice, work on making icicles. If you manage that, try shaping them into daggers.”</p><p>Minseok’s eyebrows lifted in surprise.</p><p>“You’ll pick it up quickly,” Baekhyun assured, letting a whisper of a smile flit over his face. He turned to the others. “Who’s next?”</p><p>The next hour went by in an enjoyable blur as he insulted, goaded and occasionally coaxed his team into hurling everything they could manage at him. Chanyeol mustered a pathetic cough of flame that he surrounded with a seal of light until it died. Junmyeon and Sehun managed to send a solid stream of water and air at him from two different directions, briefly surprising him at the underhanded tactic before he deflected Sehun’s air back at him with an invisible barrier of light and evaporated Junmyeon’s water into mist. Kyungsoo made Baekhyun feel twice the gravitational force of the earth for about two seconds before he was panting and exhausted. Baekhyun was perhaps lucky that Kyungsoo wasn’t at the level he remembered, or he might have been in trouble.</p><p>Jongdae had the most success—although he’d always been the fastest to pick up any new skill—managing to send a tiny jolt of electricity zipping for Baekhyun. He let it hit, judging correctly that it barely stung, far less potent than what Jongdae’s clone would use against him in the future, and fed the excess power to the slumbering beast within.</p><p>At the end of the hour, only Jongin had failed at his challenge. Considering the difficulty of his powers, and how much Baekhyun remembered him struggling with it, he wasn’t surprised.</p><p>When they were all on the dirty floor of the warehouse, looking wrung out and hungry, Baekhyun let them go before they could mutiny. He walked up to Jongin, who looked increasingly more upset the closer he got.</p><p>“I’m sorry,” Jongin blurted, the angry red scar slashing across his face wrinkling as he furrowed his eyebrows in distress. “I tried.”</p><p>Baekhyun shook his head. “Don’t worry, I didn’t expect you to get it today,” he said, letting as much warmth seep into his voice as he could manage. Jongin had always been the most fragile of them—something the unstable mentality of his clone reflected—and unlike what Yixing had suggested earlier, he did know when to coddle. “You have one of the hardest powers to learn, I was fully prepared to spend some time with you one-on-one and give you more specific instruction.”</p><p>Jongin’s shoulders slumped, tension leaving his frame. “Thanks, hyung,” he whispered, still looking downtrodden, but less defeated. He ran a hand through hair the color of ash.</p><p>“Oh, Jonginnie,” Yixing cooed, coming up behind Baekhyun and pulling Jongin into a tight hug. “You’ll get it, don’t worry. You’ve worked hard.”</p><p>Jongin melted into him, and Baekhyun nearly bit through his cheek. “Sleep in tomorrow, Jongin,” he ordered, perhaps a bit sharper than necessary. “We’ll start after lunch.”</p><p>He waited for Jongin to nod before sharply turning and striding from the room. He found a smaller, empty room, and pulled his rapier free. He ran through his exercises and forms until sweat was dripping down his face, arms and legs shaking, emotions quiet under the exhaustion blanketing his mind.</p><p>He was fine.</p>
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<a name="section0006"><h2>6. Chapter 6</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>The killing blow never came.</p><p>He opened his eyes when those cold hands released his wrists. Baëkhyun was smiling down at him.</p><p>It was <em>terrifying.</em> He’d never seen an expression like that on his own face. He distantly wondered if he’d always had the potential to be that unsettling. Baëkhyun leaned in close, sniffing at the hollow of his throat before licking his skin there, warm and hot.</p><p>He was so stunned he didn’t even think to lift his hands and push Baëkhyun away.</p><p>“You’re fresh,” Baëkhyun murmured. “New.” Something dark and dangerous danced in those eyes of ice. “Oh, you’ll be such fun.”</p><p>“What do you want?” he managed to ask, tongue finally unsticking from the roof of his mouth.</p><p>Baëkhyun tilted his head, wolf-like. “To play, of course.” His smile turned feral, predatory grace in every movement.</p><p>Baekhyun froze like the scared rabbit he felt like he’d been ever since waking up in this cursed world, watching as Baëkhyun leaned in, white hair like a beacon in the dark of the room. He couldn’t remember what words were, hypnotized by the blue of that gaze.</p><p>“What do you say, Baek? Wanna play?” He didn’t flinch as the clone cupped his jaw, but it was a close thing.</p><p>“What do you mean, play?”</p><p>“What do you think?” his clone whispered, before closing the scant distance left between them, his lips pressing against Baekhyun’s in an insistent kiss.</p><p>It was odd, being kissed by himself. His clone was exactly like him, and yet there was a hunger to the way he kissed that Baekhyun knew he’d never felt for anyone other than Yixing. He gasped as the realization hit him: his clone was kissing him like he kissed Yixing. The kiss deepened when he gasped, the clone giving him no quarter, tugging at his bottom lip meanly with his teeth in ways Baekhyun recognized as his most desperate expression of need.</p><p>Was this what Yixing had felt when kissing him? Baekhyun’s blood rushed beneath his skin, hands going shaky as need and desire and fear flooded his system in a heady cocktail of feelings.</p><p>It was torture.</p><p>He went lax under Baëkhyun’s assault, surrendering to the kiss, lost in the realization that this was how Yixing felt when he’d kissed him, desperate for even that small bit of connection. Forgetting himself completely, Baekhyun gasped, “Yixing,” against the clone’s lips, his heart fluttering, lost in the illusion his desperate mind had created.</p><p>The kiss ended abruptly, and he blinked his eyes open in the dim light before realizing his mistake. Baëkhyun was glaring down at him, every muscle rigid and tense where they touched, eyes burning. “Whom do you speak of?”</p><p>It was such an oddly formal way of talking—speech patterns he himself had never used—and it was perhaps the first distinct thing about the clone he’d noticed in the brief interaction they’d had.</p><p>“Nobody,” he replied quickly, his mind spinning and skidding over all the reasons why his clone wouldn’t know Yixing’s name.</p><p>The simplest conclusion: his future self had never muttered his name for the clone to hear. Not once. Whether it was protection of Yixing’s memory, or a sign of just how hardened and closed-off Yixing’s death would make him, Baekhyun couldn’t be sure. Not with the way fate seemed to play with him like a cat with a mouse.</p><p>Baëkhyun leaned closer, lips curling into a sneer. “Who. Is. Yixing.”</p><p>Baekhyun clamped his mouth shut.</p><p>Frigid eyes held his captive. Distantly, he considered attempting to break Baëkhyun’s hold on his wrists. He was strong enough, he knew, but he had an inkling that if he tried to resist, he’d lose any opportunity to get more information out of the clone.</p><p>“Nobody important,” he lied.</p><p>Baëkhyun snarled softly and slowly leaned closer. “You’re lying.” Without warning, he bit down harshly on the side of Baekhyun’s neck, making him squirm and gasp at the sudden pain. He did try to break Baëkhyun’s hold, yanking his wrists to no avail, trying to get enough leverage to flip Baëkhyun off him.</p><p>He only sunk his teeth in deeper, skin beginning to strain under the force of it. A whimper of pain escaped him, Baëkhyun chuckling against the tender skin of his neck, the vibrations of it making him shiver despite the ache from his teeth.</p><p>He kneed Baëkhyun in the ribs.</p><p>His teeth were ripped away from Baekhyun’s neck as he rolled off Baekhyun with a grunt. Baekhyun scrambled out from under him, trying to find a weapon in the dark of the room. His eyes caught on a glint of steel, and he reached for it, expecting a gun, finding instead the textured hold of a hilt. He grabbed it, flinging his arm back and rolling with the unexpected weight of the blade, Baëkhyun screeching as resistance tugged at the tip.</p><p>Baëkhyun backed away from him, holding a hand to his arm and hissing at him.</p><p>Baekhyun scrambled to his feet, wondering how on earth he was going to survive this, when Jongdae burst into the room.</p><p>“Baek? Ah, shit.”</p><p>Baëkhyun whipped around to look at Jongdae, his teeth bared in a grin tinged with meanness. “Well, if it isn’t Chën’s little slut. Come to play?”</p><p>Instead of reacting in anger like Baekhyun expected, Jongdae merely rubbed at his temples and huffed, “Don’t you have something better to do than terrorize Baekhyun in the middle of the night? Like, oh, I don’t know, getting fucked by Chën?”</p><p>Baëkhyun’s entire demeanor changed, so quickly Baekhyun got whiplash. “Why, interested in joining us?”</p><p>Jongdae made an affronted sound. “Get out of here, demon.” He made a shooing motion, as if Baëkhyun was nothing more than a particularly annoying bug. “Or I’ll zap you so hard you see stars for a month.”</p><p>One moment Baëkhyun was clutching his arm, the next he was slamming Jongdae against the wall with an arm against his throat. “Promise?” he purred, claiming Jongdae’s mouth in a brutal, indecent kiss before he could recover from the shock of hitting the wall.</p><p>Pushing aside the image of himself and Jongdae kissing, Baekhyun stepped forward, lifting the sword until it was pressing against Baëkhyun’s neck. “Let him go,” he demanded.</p><p>With an obscene sound, Baëkhyun pulled away from Jongdae’s mouth to slowly turn and look at Baekhyun. “Or what.”</p><p>He thought quickly. He held up his other hand, palm facing out. “Or I’ll blind you so badly not even the fancy Red Force doctors will be able to make you see again.”</p><p>Baëkhyun took one step back, releasing the pressure against Jongdae’s throat. “You may not be my original, but you sure do have his spine,” Baëkhyun mused. With a shrug that bordered on blasé, Baëkhyun twisted one of his bracelets, a small light blinking to life. “Very well. This was getting boring anyway.”</p><p>Baekhyun’s ears popped as Jongin appeared. No, wait. He looked closer in the dim light. His right eye had no color, just a single black pupil in a sea of white. He must be Jongin’s clone Kāi, then.</p><p>“Until next time, my pretty toys,” Baëkhyun promised, grabbing Kāi’s arm, both vanishing with another soft pop.</p><p>The sword slipped from his fingers, clattering against the concrete floor, and he met Jongdae’s eyes before his legs gave out.</p><p>He was unconscious before he hit the ground.</p><p>*</p><p>After a day of focused tutelage, Baekhyun had Jongin moving from one end of the warehouse to the other in a blink of an eye.</p><p>Jongin popped into existence right in front of him, sweat shimmering over any exposed skin, his hair matted with it and shirt soaked through, but he was beaming. “Hyung, thank you!”</p><p>Baekhyun gave him a small smile. “You’ve worked hard today, Jonginnie. Rest tonight and tomorrow, let your magic recover, and then you can practice increasing the distance.”</p><p>Jongin nodded eagerly, walking over to where they’d left jugs of water and towels. He used one to wipe his face dry, as Baekhyun followed him. “How far could I go, in your time?” Jongin asked, as Baekhyun was drinking water.</p><p>He took a moment to swallow, debating how much he should reveal, eventually settling on, “Very far. While we don’t know anything about your powers or what you’re capable of, it’s clear you’re one of the most powerful.”</p><p>“What else can I do?”</p><p>Baekhyun shrugged. “I’m not sure. If you’ve learned how to do more, you haven’t told me.”</p><p>Jongin frowned at that. “Why wouldn’t I? Are we not that close in the future, hyung?”</p><p>“It’s not your fault, Jongin,” Baekhyun assured him. “I’m not close with anyone, not really.” Not since Yixing died, and then the clones came shortly after, and they’d all closed themselves off to each other.</p><p>Nothing felt safe, after that. Not even his brothers in arms.</p><p>“That makes me sad.” Jongin reached for his hand. Baekhyun flinched away before he could remind himself he was <em>safe</em> here. The demons that haunted him didn’t exist yet.</p><p>“Sorry,” Baekhyun said lamely. “Why don’t you go and show Sehunnie how much progress you’ve made today,” he suggested, suddenly desperate for a moment alone.</p><p>Jongin’s mouth twisted unhappily, but he nodded and used his newfound control to vanish from the room.</p><p>It took Yixing less than five minutes to track him down, during which Baekhyun had summoned wraiths of light to spar against, his rapier dancing with a blade of light. They could only mirror his movements, providing him a touchstone as he worked through forms and technique, but it was enough to get his blood pumping.</p><p>“You’re beautiful,” Yixing murmured, leaning against a nearby wall, keen eyes following Baekhyun’s form.</p><p>He faltered a step, the wraith’s sword sliding past his guard to sink into his arm instead of deflecting against his blade. Baekhyun felt the peculiar sensation of a sunburst kissing his skin where the light grazed him. He lowered his sword, letting the wraith dissolve as he faced Yixing.</p><p>“Sorry,” Yixing said, not looking sorry in the least. “I didn’t mean for you to stop.”</p><p>He rolled his eyes and walked back to the water to avoid meeting Yixing’s assessing eyes. “What do you want, Xing?”</p><p>“You made a lot of progress with Jongin today. He’s been showing off to the others.”</p><p>“And have they made any progress?” While Baekhyun had been helping Jongin, Yixing had been keeping the others practicing, switching between hand-to-hand training and magic.</p><p>“Junmyeon managed to put out Chanyeol’s burst of fire with a small wall of water.” Yixing’s voice was getting closer, his footsteps echoing through the empty room. “And Kyungsoo is exhibiting wonderful control already.”</p><p>“Good.”</p><p>“Baekhyun, look at me,” Yixing insisted, coming to stop in front of Baekhyun. “What’s wrong?”</p><p>“Nothing, it’s fine.”</p><p>Yixing used a finger to lift Baekhyun’s chin, ignoring the minuscule flinch it earned him, Baekhyun’s overwrought nerves not even settled in Yixing’s soothing presence. “It’s not. Talk to me.”</p><p>But he didn’t want to talk. Giving voice to his demons would only give them more power. So, he did whatever he always did in moments like these. He pulled Yixing close, kissing his problems away.</p><p>It always worked on Jongdae, anyway.</p><p>Yixing indulged him for a few moments, lips sliding together slowly in a way that never failed to make Baekhyun shiver, before gently pushing him away by the hips. “No, not this time.”</p><p>Damn.</p><p>“I don’t want to talk.”</p><p>“You’ve made that clear. One way or another, there are conversations we need to have. If not this one, then we need to discuss what things are like in the future, so we can work on changing them from this time.” Yixing’s reasoning was sound, and he knew it, judging by the small smirk on his lips.</p><p>Baekhyun seethed quietly for a moment before agreeing. “Fine. We’ll talk. But I want to shower first.” He cast a disgusted look at their surroundings. “This place is filthy.”</p><p>Yixing snorted. “Oh, I’m sorry. Didn’t realize you were expecting something better.” He followed as Baekhyun gathered his things and left the room, headed for the room they were still sharing. “I doubt the future is much better on the accommodations front.”</p><p>“We actually have a pretty nice place where we live,” Baekhyun offered. “One of the old Red Force housing complexes.”</p><p>Yixing fell into step next to him. “How on earth do you get away with living there? Don’t they know where you are?”</p><p>He nodded. “They definitely do.”</p><p>“Then how?”</p><p>“Well, it took them a while to realize you were dead,” he began, making sure the door to their room was closed tightly behind them. “And by then the clones had already been deployed, for lack of a better word, and the thing is, I don’t think they expected to actually kill you. When they found out, they sort of, stopped caring about us?”</p><p>“That makes absolutely no sense,” Yixing replied, while Baekhyun internally grumbled about how inconvenient it was to have to rig a shower out of a spigot and rubber hosing. He missed Junmyeon’s mastery over water.</p><p>“Without you, we were crippled. Wiping the stain of the Red Force is nearly impossible without you, and they know it,” he explained, stripping efficiently. “They more or less leave us to our own devices, letting the clones terrorize us as much as they want while we try and do what we can to thwart them.” He shrugged, grabbing the hose and spraying himself down with cold water. “We’re like gnats to a horse.”</p><p>“Why me? You didn’t mention Minseok or Kyungsoo. Did their deaths not matter?” He was completely unperturbed by Baekhyun’s nudity, which wasn’t surprising considering, although Baekhyun found it interesting how completely unruffled Yixing was by everything.</p><p>“Losing them certainly didn’t help,” he answered, scrubbing himself down quickly. He wasn’t a stranger to cold showers, but they weren’t enjoyable no matter how many he’d taken. “But no, you’re the key to everything. We have no chance without you.”</p><p>“That’s why it’s so important to save <em>me,</em> in particular,” Yixing surmised as Baekhyun turned off the water, tossing him a towel that was mostly clean to dry off with.</p><p>There was more; there was always more, but Baekhyun held his tongue. That was enough earth-shaking revelations for Yixing. “Yes. You need to stay alive if we’re going to change anything by the next eclipse.”</p><p>Yixing pondered his words as Baekhyun walked over to the neat pile of clothes in a clean corner of the room, pulling on a clean, form-fitting black shirt and pants loose enough to allow him movement, but not so baggy that they would get in his way. They weren’t the sleek jumpsuits they had in the future, but they’d do.</p><p>He sat on the edge of the bed while he waited for Yixing to come out of his head. “I have a question for you,” Baekhyun said, when Yixing finally sat next to him.</p><p>“Yeah?”</p><p>“When are you going to heal Jongin’s face?”</p><p>Yixing blinked at him. “I can?”</p><p>Baekhyun rolled his eyes. “Don’t play dumb. Of course you can. I’m wondering why you haven’t already, frankly.”</p><p>“It’s not that. I wasn’t aware I could heal scars,” Yixing explained. “And I haven’t told them about my power.”</p><p>“Well, maybe it’s time.”</p><p>“Tomorrow,” Yixing said, sounding like a promise. Then, after a long moment of silence, “What if nothing changes? What if my death is like, a fixed point in time, and it’s going to happen no matter what?”</p><p>Something deep within the abyss of his power roared to life, surging to the surface in an uncontrollable wave. <em>Not yet,</em> he begged, mentally soothing the monster, stroking it back to sleep. <em>Not now.</em> “If it’s a fixed point in time, then why am I here?” Baekhyun challenged, unwilling to consider the possibility that Yixing was right. “It has to be avoidable.”</p><p>“But what if it isn’t?” Yixing pushed, eyes calm as he discussed the possibility of his death with Baekhyun.</p><p>“It <em>is,”</em> Baekhyun insisted, voice firm, no room for argument. “I will move heaven and earth to give us a fighting chance, to give our <em>future</em> a different outcome. What’s the point of all the power inside me if I can’t change things?” He inhaled, shaky and more vulnerable than he’d allowed himself to be since he woke up in his memories. “I won’t watch you die in my arms again.”</p><p>“Okay,” Yixing conceded. “Okay.” He grabbed Baekhyun’s hand, lacing their fingers and squeezing tightly. “We’ll fight.”</p><p>Baekhyun opened his mouth to reply, but didn’t get that far, his mind flooding with images. He hunched over his lap, gasping at the onslaught. He—it was his clone, kissing him in a dimly lit room—no wait, that was <em>his</em> room, in the future. What the fuck?</p><p>“Baekhyun? What’s happening?” Yixing fluttered worried hands over his skin. He could feel his power seeping into his skin, looking for pain to wipe away. But this wasn’t physical, it was mental.</p><p>Memories. He was...remembering? He reeled. In his mind, Baëkhyun was kissing him deeply, like a man starved, and Baekhyun was getting lost in it. He flinched as he moaned Yixing’s name, not surprised when that single utterance initiated a fight between himself and his clone. “What is happening,” he whispered, trying to make sense of it all.</p><p>He <em>remembered</em> kicking Baëkhyun off him, of Jongdae—<em>his</em> Jongdae—bursting into the room, Baëkhyun attacking him as well. He remembered fumbling for his rapier, threatening Baëkhyun until he vanished in Kāi’s arms. Then, he remembered his powers manifesting, nearly killing Junmyeon in the process, entirely different from how it had happened…but that memory was still there. He remembered two different instances of his powers manifesting, in two <em>different </em>timelines.</p><p>“What’s wrong,” Yixing was urging him. “Tell me.”</p><p>“I’m…getting new memories, I think.”</p><p>“…What?”</p><p>He shook his head. “I think I’m <em>remembering</em> what happened to my past self…in the future.”</p><p>Yixing blinked several times. “Huh?”</p><p>“It doesn’t make much sense to me…except it does?” He tilted his head. “It means our theory is right, and the version of me that you knew ended up in my time. And if that’s the case…he is exactly that. An old version of me. His memories are mine. So, everything he experiences…I’ll eventually have those memories.”</p><p>“Okay, assuming you’re right about all this, what does that mean for us?” Yixing ran a hand through his hair, the other still tangled with Baekhyun’s almost as an afterthought, in the way he remembered they’d never been able to keep their hands off each other.</p><p>“It means,” he said slowly, “that I will know everything that happens to my past self. It’s been a while since we swapped, and I’m only just now getting new memories, so there must be some sort of like, inter-dimensional lag or something, but it’s an advantage. I think.”</p><p>“Sounds like a really trippy case of deja vu,” Yixing finally said, sounding as shell-shocked as Baekhyun felt.</p><p>“Yeah, maybe.” He laughed without any real humor. “Here’s to my past self. Hopefully he survives the clones.”</p><p>“Well, my Baekhyun is a fighter,” Yixing consoled. “He’ll be okay.”</p><p>Baekhyun wasn’t so sure. Yixing didn’t know the clones.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0007"><h2>7. Chapter 7</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>“I don’t want to talk about it.”</p><p>Jongdae dodged as Baekhyun threw a punch at his face. “I think you should.”</p><p>He fumed. “No.”</p><p>“Yes!” Jongdae hit him with a bolt of electricity so strong it knocked him flat on his ass. He might have blacked out for a few seconds, because when he managed to blink his eyes open Jongdae was crouched over him, looking concerned. “Listen, the only way we survive is by talking to each other, and we made a promise to always talk about what the clones did to us.”</p><p>Instead of snapping at Jongdae, <em>again,</em> he stewed for a moment, blinking up at the harsh white lights lining the ceiling of the room. Maybe Jongdae was right, and he needed to talk. But the only one he wanted to talk to was Yixing.</p><p>And not being able to just made him <em>angry.</em></p><p>“I don’t want to talk to you,” he said calmly, quietly.</p><p>Jongdae frowned. “How are you somehow <em>more</em> stubborn than my Baekhyun.”</p><p>He rolled out from under Jongdae. “I am your Baekhyun.”</p><p>“You aren’t. But you <em>are</em> a memory brought to life. And I’ve been your best friend through it all.” Jongdae reached down to help Baekhyun to his feet, smiling when Baekhyun took his offered hand. “I still know how to get you out of your head.”</p><p>He froze as Jongdae stepped close, noses brushing. “I know you, Baekhyun. Let me help you.”</p><p>He considered it. There was a sincere warmth in Jongdae’s eyes that made him want to cave, to accept his offer. That, paired with the realization that Jongdae was probably as desperate for human closeness as he was, had Baekhyun swaying into his orbit. He pressed a soft kiss to Jongdae’s cheek.</p><p>“Thank you, Dae,” he whispered. “I appreciate it. But I won’t. I’m not the one you want.”</p><p>He turned and left the room before Jongdae could attempt to change his mind.</p><p>But out in the clean, white hallways of the compound, he didn’t know where to go. He didn’t want to be alone in his room, but he also didn’t want to talk to Jongdae. He began to wander, with no particular destination in mind. Jongdae had shown him around a few days ago, making sure he knew where all the common rooms were and where everyone’s room was. If he continued on his current trajectory, he’d end up at Junmyeon’s room.</p><p>It was as good of a place as any.</p><p>Absently, he thought about asking Junmyeon to teach him more about how his healing magic worked, and if it was anything like what Yixing had been able to do. He’d never known a Yixing that had magic, his own still so foreign to him even after the training they’d put him through.</p><p>A faint pop startled him from his thoughts, and he blinked in shock as Jongin appeared in front of him. Jongin seemed as startled to see him there as he was to see Jongin, eyes widening under his unkempt teal fringe.</p><p>The eyes were wrong, one bright blue, the other white. Kāi. He opened his mouth to shout an alarm, but before he could release the air he’d inhaled, Kāi was pinning him to the wall, an arm barring his chest and a hand over his mouth.</p><p>Kāi tilted his head, looking down at him like he was a curiosity, blinking slowly. Plush lips pursed, his eyes narrowing. Slowly, he lifted the hand from Baekhyun’s mouth and placed a finger against his lips, signaling to be quiet. He recalled what Jongin and Jongdae had said about Kāi, that he was mostly non-verbal and so far, hadn’t tried to kill any of them.</p><p>He nodded slowly, keeping his mouth closed. Kāi backed up, letting his arm drop and grabbing Baekhyun’s wrist instead, turning and pulling him down the hallway. Baekhyun stumbled after him, too stunned to question why he was, or what Kāi was doing. They reached one of the doors, and Kāi dropped his wrist as he rushed through, leaving Baekhyun blinking in the doorway and watching as Kāi launched himself at Jongin, who was lounging on his bed.</p><p>“Oof,” Jongin exclaimed, as Kāi landed squarely on his chest. Baekhyun’s cry of alarm died in his throat when it became apparent Kāi wasn’t attacking Jongin...he was cuddling him? “Didn’t expect to see you today, Kāi.” Jongin said softly, wrapping his arms around his clone as Kāi nuzzled into his neck, squirming as close as possible.</p><p>It was at that moment that Jongin spotted Baekhyun in the doorway, his expression flashing with panic. “Baek?”</p><p>Baekhyun quickly stepped through the doorway, pressing the button that had the door hissing shut behind him. “Hey, Jongin.”</p><p>Jongin looked between Baekhyun and Kāi, his expression confused. “Did he bring you here?”</p><p>“I’m—I think so? I was wandering the halls and he appeared right in front of me.” He shrugged, leaning against the wall. “I thought he was going to attack me, but all he did was motion for me to be quiet and then he grabbed my wrist and led me here.”</p><p>As he spoke, Jongin began to run a hand through Kāi’s hair, while Kāi seemed to be oblivious to anyone existing outside Jongin.</p><p>“Why’d you bring him here, Kāi?” Jongin asked, nudging Kāi with his other hand. Kāi sighed deeply, before slowly pushing himself off Jongin and walking toward Baekhyun.</p><p>He tensed, not sure what Kāi was up to. So far, his experience with Kāi had been completely different than with his clone. He’d thought they were all violent and cruel. Kāi still could be, for all he knew. But instead of hurting him, Kāi just stared at him, eventually turning to Jongin and tugging at Baekhyun’s hair.</p><p>“Oh,” Jongin said. “Yes, it’s Baekhyun. But he’s an older version of the one you know. That’s why his hair is black and not white like you remember.”</p><p>Kāi’s shoulders seemed to slump slightly. “No, you’re not going crazy. It’s the wrong Baekhyun.”</p><p>“What the fuck?” Baekhyun blurted. “You got that from him tugging my hair?”</p><p>Jongin sat up on his bed and gave Baekhyun a squinty-eyed glare. “Hey, I’ve learned to speak his language, okay?” He motioned for Kāi to come back over to him. “He’s plenty talkative, if you know what to look for.”</p><p>With another curious look at Baekhyun, Kāi went back to Jongin, cuddling right up to him with a soft smile.</p><p>“Why doesn’t he talk?” Baekhyun asked, venturing a few steps further into the room. “Is there a reason?”</p><p>Jongin pursed his lips. “There is, and he’s told me, but I promised him I wouldn’t tell anyone else.”</p><p>Bad, then, whatever it was, Baekhyun inferred. “Why are you so, like, calm? Not murderous?” He directed the question at Kāi, since he seemed attentive enough.</p><p>“He’s not like the others,” Jongin explained, occasionally glancing at Kāi. Baekhyun suspected this was a conversation they’d already had. “Part of why he’s quiet is so the others will leave him alone. He acts intentionally unstable to keep everyone from involving him in their schemes.”</p><p>Kāi squeezed Jongin’s leg, catching his attention.</p><p>“It’s okay, Baekhyun isn’t going to tell anyone your secret,” Jongin insisted. He turned a steely gaze on Baekhyun. “Right?”</p><p>Baekhyun nodded quickly. It was the least he could do and having Kāi on their side could only be a good thing, even if the others didn’t know. “I don’t know why I’d need to tell anyone anything about your clone. I haven’t even met him, really,” he offered, smiling conspiratorially.</p><p>Judging by the identical smiles they gave him, he’d said the right thing. They turned to each other, getting lost in whatever silent language they’d developed, and Baekhyun took that as his cue to leave.</p><p>“Do you have a message from Tae?” Jongin said as Baekhyun slipped from the room and closed the door behind him.</p><p>As distracting as that encounter had been, he still wanted to find and talk with Junmyeon, so he continued down the hall toward his room instead of returning to his own. There was much, much more to the clones than they’d led him to believe.</p><p>*</p><p>Baekhyun stood in front of the grimy mirror he’d found and seethed.</p><p>There was a new scar on his shoulder, the imprint of teeth. “Stop hurting us!” he shouted at the empty room, furious with his past self. He already had enough scars, dammit. He knew it was from his own encounter with Baëkhyun, could remember the moment he’d gotten it. But it was bizarre to have memories of an experience he hadn’t had.</p><p>Except he had.</p><p>His head hurt.</p><p>“What are you shouting about?” Yixing asked, coming into their room.</p><p>“Nothing, I just have a new scar, courtesy of my past self.” He pointed to the scar on his shoulder, letting Yixing examine it.</p><p>“Do you want it gone?” Yixing’s hand hovered over his shoulder. “I can make it disappear.”</p><p>“What happened to not knowing you could heal scars?” Baekhyun’s eyes met his through the mirror.</p><p>Yixing shrugged. “I figure I should practice on someone before I attempt anything on Jongin’s <em>face.”</em></p><p>Fair enough. “Go on, then.”</p><p>Yixing’s hand landed on his shoulder, warmth tingling and radiating from the contact deep into Baekhyun’s bones. After a few beats, Yixing lifted his hand away, revealing nothing but smooth, unblemished skin. “There, all better.”</p><p>Baekhyun gave him an unamused look in the mirror. “Thanks.” He pulled his shirt over his head. Yixing’s hands were at his stomach, under his shirt, before he could tuck it in, roaming over the ridges of his muscles.</p><p>“Let me enjoy this, for a minute,” Yixing coaxed, settling his chin on Baekhyun’s shoulder where he’d just healed him. “You have more muscles than my Baekhyun.”</p><p>He snorted, but let Yixing touch his fill, relaxing into it after a moment and leaning back against Yixing. It was nice to be touched gently, without a hint of violence. Even his dalliances with Jongdae hadn’t had this kind of warmth.</p><p>Yixing nosed at the side of his neck, lips grazing his skin. Baekhyun inhaled sharply, meeting Yixing’s burning gaze through the mirror with one of his own, not breaking it as Yixing reached a hand up into his hair and knotted his fingers through it, tugging Baekhyun’s head to the side. He gasped, shivering as Yixing slowly dragged his teeth down the side of Baekhyun’s neck.</p><p>“Yixing,” he warned, catching Yixing’s stray hand as it started to slip beneath his waistband. “We have things to do today.”</p><p>Yixing growled softly and sucked gently at the base of Baekhyun’s neck. “I’d rather spend some time re-learning you.” Despite his words, he slowly released Baekhyun’s hair, letting him straighten and turn around.</p><p>Eye to eye, inches apart, it was more difficult to stand firm in his resolve. Yixing was <em>his.</em> An old version or not, the longer he was stuck here, the harder it was to deny feelings he’d thought long buried. And every time Yixing tested his resolve to keep distance between them out of respect for his past self, the weaker he became.</p><p>“Stop fighting me,” Yixing whispered, swaying into Baekhyun’s space. “Past or future, I am one and the same, here in the present.”</p><p>Yixing had a way of stating things so simply that Baekhyun had no argument. He gave in, slotting their lips together and melting into the sweet kiss Yixing gave him, curling closer to the radiating warmth of him, trying to let it seep into the cold, distant parts of him.</p><p>He sighed as Yixing cupped his jaw, tilting his head slightly to deepen the kiss, never pushing beyond that slow sticky glide they’d fallen into. Baekhyun curled his fingers into the collar of Yixing’s shirt, holding him close, feeling fragile in a way he hadn’t allowed himself to be in a very long time.</p><p>The rough edges of his heart scraped against his ribs with every beat, and he pulled away slowly. He was strong, but the gentleness with which Yixing treated him was enough to break him completely. “Jongin. We need to go.”</p><p>Yixing’s dimples appeared as he flashed Baekhyun an amused smile. “Okay.”</p><p>This time, when he went to lace their fingers together, Baekhyun let him.</p><p> </p><p>Everyone was practicing when they walked into the main room. Baekhyun watched as Minseok made excellent use of one of the worn mattresses to throw Jongdae over his shoulder, landing with a whump on his back. Junmyeon and Chanyeol were trying to get their elements past the other’s, learning how to fight someone who countered them. Kyungsoo looked like he was trying to pin Jongin down long enough that he couldn’t teleport, with varying degrees of success.</p><p>Sehun…may have been napping.</p><p>Baekhyun kicked the mattress he was on until his eyes fluttered open, then whistled sharply to get everyone’s attention. “Jongin, come here.”</p><p>Jongin peeked out from behind Kyungsoo, pointing at himself. “Me?”</p><p>He raised an eyebrow in response. Jongin appeared a foot away from him. “Your control is getting much better,” Baekhyun remarked as he tugged Yixing forward. “But that’s not why I wanted you. Yixing has something to share with all of you.”</p><p>The team’s attention shifted to Yixing as he calmly stepped forward, releasing Baekhyun’s hand. “Jongin, I’m going to do something about that scar across your face, if you’d like me to, that is.”</p><p>Jongin’s brow furrowed in confusion. “Uh, I mean yeah, that would be great. How?”</p><p>Yixing smiled serenely, reaching out and cupping Jongin’s face in his hands. “One moment, please.” He closed his eyes, face going blank as he summoned his power.</p><p>The slash across Jongin’s face lightened from an angry red to a soft pink, then silvery-white, then nothing but smooth skin.</p><p>“Holy shit,” Chanyeol whispered as Yixing released Jongin and stepped away. “What was that?”</p><p>Yixing faced the awed members of their team. “I can heal. That’s my power.”</p><p>It took a few seconds for everyone to digest that information.</p><p>“He’s had his powers for a while now,” Baekhyun said, when it became clear the others were at a loss for words. “So he’ll be helping the rest of you work on control, as well as healing any training-related injuries you may sustain. Questions?”</p><p>“I’ve got one,” Sehun said from his spot on a mattress. “Yixing, what the fuck?”</p><p>Yixing shrugged. “At first I wasn’t sure, and then Baekhyun got swapped with this one and <em>he </em>had powers…and then I figured it out. I didn’t want to say anything until I was sure.”</p><p>Jongin had finally moved to the nearest reflective surface. “And you decided to start with my face?!” he shrieked from the other side of the room.</p><p>“You didn’t have a scar in my time,” Baekhyun explained. “It seemed like the most obvious way to go.”</p><p>“I thought the whole idea was to <em>change</em> the events of the past so that some of us don’t, uh, die?” Minseok asked, crossing his arms. The tips of his fingers looked a bit blue. “Not do the same things?”</p><p>It was Baekhyun’s turn to shrug. “Last time it took Yixing another month to heal Jongin. I’m hoping that by doing it sooner it was enough of a change to not fall in line with the events of my past.”</p><p>“How much longer do we have to train?” Junmyeon asked, taking subtle command of the conversation.</p><p>“By my estimation, we’ll be raided by the Red Force in a week,” he answered, letting that sink in before continuing. “We’ll be more prepared and a tougher fight for them, but we should still have a solid escape plan and another base ready to work from. Once they find us, we won’t be able to return here.”</p><p>Mood sufficiently sobered, Baekhyun clapped his hands together. “So, back to training. After we eat, you’ll go up against me.”</p><p>Chanyeol groaned dramatically at that but complied with the rest of the team as they resumed their practice. Baekhyun settled himself against a wall to watch, shaking his head when Yixing made to do the same. “Nope. Don’t even think about it.” He pointed to Sehun. “You’re training with the baby today. Just because your powers are defensive and not offensive doesn’t mean you can skip training.”</p><p>Yixing pouted.</p><p>“I’m immune to that. Now go. Kick Sehunnie’s ass.”</p><p>He got an eye roll from Yixing, but he went, nudging at Sehun with a foot until he stood, huffing in annoyance, and settled into a ready stance. He watched them trade blows, learning the way the other moved, movements getting smoother and faster as they settled into the rhythm of it. He was so absorbed in watching Yixing’s lithe figure dance around Sehun’s that he nearly startled out of his skin when Junmyeon spoke from next to him.</p><p>“So, you and Yixing.”</p><p>Baekhyun turned a wide-eyed look on him, silently willing him to cease immediately with his chosen topic of conversation. “Careful, Junmyeon.”</p><p>Junmyeon hummed, watching him watch Yixing. “You said your Yixing—ours, really—died? What’s it like to have him back?”</p><p>He chewed on his lip for a moment as he thought. He didn’t really want to talk about this. “It’s like the most transcendent heaven and the most excruciating torture,” he finally answered. “I’m terrified.”</p><p>Junmyeon nodded like he understood, although Baekhyun didn’t see how he possibly could. “When I think about losing Sehun…I’m certain I wouldn’t survive it. The fact that you did says a lot about you.”</p><p>“That I’m a stubborn bastard?”</p><p>“Well, yes.” Junmyeon laughed softly. “While I can’t imagine what you’re going through, I can say that I think you should take this as a blessing. It’s a second chance to be with him.”</p><p>“But what if it doesn’t work,” he bit out, working to keep his voice soft and out of range of the others. “What if I open my heart again, let him heal all the broken, jagged edges of me, only to fail in saving him? Then I’ll have lost him twice—been shattered <em>twice—</em>with nothing but devastation to show for it.”</p><p>Junmyeon turned a sad smile on him. “That’s just love, Baekhyun.” His breath caught around a tightness in his throat. Junmyeon’s eyes wandered back to Sehun. “The thought of losing anyone you love is abhorrent. But we take the risk, because when it’s right—when it lasts—it’s the most beautiful thing in the world.” He glanced at Baekhyun sidelong. “Some precious things slip away, and we can’t change that, but we can fight to hold on.”</p><p>“You really love him, don’t you?” Baekhyun asked, nodding to where Sehun was taking a break and laughing with Jongin.</p><p>“Mmmm. He’s the most precious thing in this cold world, to me,” Junmyeon said. “Why, do I not in the future?”</p><p>“You do,” Baekhyun replied. “It’s harder to love, for our future selves. The clones made sure of that. But you and Sehun cling tightly to each other at every point in time, it seems.”</p><p>“I think you should stop being afraid,” Junmyeon said suddenly. He turned to face Baekhyun head on. “You’ve already been through so much more than the rest of us. You’ve seen horrors, you’ve survived losing the love of your life…” he paused, studying Baekhyun. “You’re stronger than any of us. And while I’m not sure why the universe has given us this chance, I think you should seize every part of that.”</p><p>He turned a meaningful gaze on Yixing. “You should seize <em>every</em> chance you’ve been given.”</p><p>Baekhyun sucked on his teeth. There was truth to Junmyeon’s words, and a wisdom that Baekhyun hadn’t expected. Maybe Junmyeon had always been an old soul and he’d never noticed before. “Thank you, Jun.”</p><p>Junmyeon left him to his thoughts with a quick squeeze of his shoulder. “Anytime, Baek.”</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0008"><h2>8. Chapter 8</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Junmyeon seemed surprised that Baekhyun would seek him out. “Please, come in,” he said, once he’d recovered from his shock. He stepped aside to let Baekhyun slip through the doorway. “Is something the matter?”</p><p>“No, nothing’s wrong, other than the obvious problem of me getting back to my time.” He looked around Junmyeon’s room curiously, noting the large bed clearly meant for two people, and the books stacked haphazardly in piles in different corners of the room. Books were a curious rarity in their world, and the fact that Junmyeon had so many meant they hadn’t needed to move around as much as they did in the past.</p><p>“Do you guys not have to move locations often?” he asked, pointing to Junmyeon’s books.</p><p>Junmyeon frowned, then his expression cleared. “Right, I keep forgetting that you don’t know.”</p><p>“Don’t know what?” There seemed to always be more information he needed. Junmyeon settled on the bed and patted it, motioning for Baekhyun to join him. Once he was settled, Junmyeon started talking.</p><p>“We don’t know why, but ever since they found out Yixing died, the Red Force has all but ignored us.”</p><p>Baekhyun blinked in shock. “They what?”</p><p>“We lost Kyungsoo and Minseok to them, but Yixing died after a failed raid. They didn’t see him die, and we managed to keep that information from them until after the clones were made.”</p><p>“And when were they made?”</p><p>Junmyeon flopped back onto the bed, his red hair like spilled blood over the clinically white sheets. “Remember when we were captured by the Red Force and locked up in that creepy lab?”</p><p>Baekhyun shuddered. Those were memories he liked to ignore. “Where they like, injected us with all that weird stuff?”</p><p>“Do you remember the nurses who did most of the experiments on us? With the red face shield?”</p><p>He looked up at the halogen lights lining the perimeter of the room, giving a soft white glow to soften the harshness of the concrete and metal. “I don’t know, they all sort of looked the same to me.”</p><p>Junmyeon gave him a significant look. “They did, didn’t they.”</p><p>His mouth dropped open. “You mean <em>they</em> were clones?” His mind spun out in a dozen different directions.</p><p>“It makes sense that the Red Force would have perfected the process before they got their hands on our DNA. And that’s when they did. It took them about two years after we escaped that lab to create and grow our clones. In that time, they managed to take Kyungsoo and Minseok. My theory is that they created our clones first—the six of us—as a test, to see if they could be controlled, before they did the last three. They may have even done them in batches of three, which might explain why the first three—Chanyeøl, Kāi and Baëkhyun—feel so unstable. Sehůn, Suhø and Chën seem the most stable out of the six.”</p><p>He wasn’t sure how he felt about his clone being considered unstable.</p><p>“Either way,” Junmyeon continued, “once the clones began popping up in our lives, they relentlessly sought out you and Yixing. It didn’t take them long to figure out that Yixing had died. We can only assume that’s why the Red Force stopped bothering with us. Once the clones found out he was dead, the attacks stopped.” Junmyeon shrugged, turning to look at Baekhyun. “We found this base shortly after, and we haven’t left since.”</p><p>“So…the clones…”</p><p>“Appear when they’re bored. For the most part, they’re just annoying. We assume the Red Force uses them in missions because their powers mirror our own and they are useful tools to them, but when they’re not being used, they often come to bother us.”</p><p>“But why Yixing?” Everything else made sense. When they’d been cloned, why, the timeline. But that aspect, that they would lose interest in them once Yixing was killed, didn’t make sense. He flopped down next to Junmyeon.</p><p>“I was hoping you might have an idea.” Junmyeon was looking at him when he turned his head. “I always suspected there was something our Baekhyun knew but didn’t tell us.”</p><p>“Well, if he knew, he figured it out sometime after the point in time I came from. Because I have no idea. My powers were a revelation to me. I’m still trying to figure out how they work, and why we have them.”</p><p>Junmyeon sat up. “I think I have a book you might want to read, actually.” He walked to a corner where dozens of books were stacked and started riffling through them. “Baekhyun spent a lot of time reading after Yixing—it was about all we could get him to do in the months after—and I think there were a few he mentioned talked about our powers.” He started making a smaller stack, flicking through the pages before adding the book he was currently looking at to the stack. “He left a lot of notes in them. I’ve been meaning to go through them but haven’t had the time.” He offered Baekhyun a sheepish smile over his shoulder. “Suhø has been getting restless, and that’s always a handful.”</p><p>He straightened with a stack of books that were bound in leather, pages worn and feathered at the edges, and handed them to Baekhyun. “Well, this will certainly keep me busy.” He took a quick glance at spines, but if they’d had titles they were long gone by now. He set them in his lap.</p><p>“Anything else I can help with?” Junmyeon asked, when it became apparent Baekhyun wasn’t going to leave.</p><p>Baekhyun chewed on his cheek, summoning courage. “Jongdae mentioned that your clone was…” he trailed off, searching for the right word. “Difficult,” he settled on, diplomatically.</p><p>Junmyeon barked out a laugh. “That’s a mild way of putting it. Suhø is mean on his best days, sadistic on his worst. Is there a question in there somewhere?”</p><p>“How do you deal with him? I’ve only had one meeting with Baëkhyun and I already feel way out of my depth.”</p><p>“Hmmm, a good question.” Junmyeon drummed his fingers against the bed, settling himself next to Baekhyun again. “The most important thing to remember is that your clone is like a mirror. They’re a reflection of you, so if you’re “good” then the clones are more likely to adopt your “bad” qualities.”</p><p>“They’re every bad thought we’ve had, every dark impulse, brought to life?” Baekhyun hadn’t thought about it like that, but it did align with what he’d been told about the clones already.</p><p>“That’s a pretty good way of thinking about it.” He frowned again, handsome features crinkling. “It took me a while to admit that the way Suhø behaved was something I was capable of, but deep down I know it is.” He turned a considering look at Baekhyun. “At the end of the day, it all comes down to the choices we make.”</p><p>Baekhyun hummed in thought, fingers absently playing with the books as he absorbed everything Junmyeon had told him. The door whooshed open and Sehun walked in, looking surprised to see Baekhyun there.</p><p>“Oh, hey Sehun,” Baekhyun greeted, shifting to stand. “I can leave, sorry.”</p><p>Junmyeon’s hand shot out, gripping his arm tightly and keeping him in place. “Baekhyun.”</p><p>He blinked in shock, looking at where Junmyeon had grabbed him, then to Junmyeon’s face, which was fixed on Sehun. He followed that gaze, noticing what he’d missed with his first glance. White eyes, a scar cutting through the middle of his right eyebrow and down his cheek.</p><p>Sehůn.</p><p>“Is there something I can help you with, Sehůn?” Junmyeon asked tightly, his hold not loosening on Baekhyun.</p><p>Sehůn looked remarkably bored. “Suhø wants to see you.”</p><p>“Is he here?”</p><p>Baekhyun could feel Sehůn’s gaze lingering on him, something like curiosity behind those unsettling white eyes. “No, he’s waiting for you at our compound.” His eyes stuck on where Junmyeon was gripping Baekhyun. “Shall I tell him you’re otherwise occupied?”</p><p>Junmyeon inhaled sharply. “No, I’ll come now.” He stood slowly, turning to Baekhyun. “Tell Sehun where I’ve gone, please. I should be back by tomorrow.”</p><p>He gulped. A whole night with Suhø? He searched for an excuse to keep Junmyeon here and out of the reach of his clone, but his mind was blank.</p><p>“No need,” Sehůn said. “Suhø sent Kāi for Sehun already. He should be back any moment to transport us as well.”</p><p>“Sehun is with him now?” Junmyeon looked terrified, although Baekhyun suspected he was trying not to let it show. His fists were clenched at his sides.</p><p>Sehůn’s expression shifted slightly from careful blankness, although Baekhyun couldn’t pinpoint the emotion. “Suhø said it’s been too long since we entertained the two of you.”</p><p>Junmyeon was slowly paling, the bright of his hair making him look sallow. “I see.”</p><p>Kāi appeared in the room. He seemed startled to find Baekhyun there as well, looking at him curiously as he held out his hand for Sehůn to take. He held out the other to Junmyeon, who hesitated to take the offered hand.</p><p>“Well?” Sehůn prompted, face impassive. Baekhyun couldn’t tell if he cared at all that he was likely taking Junmyeon to be tortured by his clone.</p><p>With one last look at Baekhyun, Junmyeon took Kāi’s hand, and the three of them vanished from sight.</p><p>*</p><p>His conversation with Junmyeon followed him for the rest of the day, niggling at him until he was worn down and exhausted with every breath as he tried to keep his emotions in check. His powers, sensing his internal distress, attempted to swell to the surface, giving him yet another thing to fend off.</p><p>Yixing eyed him as he slumped into their room. “You look...distressed.”</p><p>Groaning internally, Baekhyun exchanged his day clothes for the softer, looser pants and shirt he’d been wearing at night. “It’s been a long day.”</p><p>“Mmmm, says the man who spent most of it watching everyone else work.”</p><p>Baekhyun shot him a glare. Yixing was already in bed, tucked against the wall, blanket curled under his chin. “Hush.”</p><p>“Was it your conversation with Junmyeon?” Yixing lifted the blanket for Baekhyun as he turned off the lights and crawled in bed. “It looked serious.”</p><p>He wasn’t even surprised that Yixing had noticed. “He gave me a lot to think about.” That was all he was willing to say about it.</p><p>Yixing cuddled up against him as he settled. “And what have you decided?”</p><p>He took two deep breaths, giving himself time to organize his thoughts. Slowly, he shifted on his side to face Yixing. He couldn’t see him in the near absolute dark of the room, but he could feel Yixing’s breath against his lips as he said, “You have always been my past, present and future, Yixing.”</p><p>Yixing’s breath hitched audibly.</p><p>“But I can’t help but feel like I’m doing my past self a disservice by letting myself get close to you. It feels like I’m stealing something precious from him.”</p><p>“You and he are one and the same,” Yixing argued, looping an arm around Baekhyun’s waist and pulling him closer. “You’re thinking about this like you’re two different people, but you aren’t. You’re the same person.”</p><p>“I know that, but it’s hard to <em>feel</em> that. No matter how many times I tell myself that, I still feel like I’m sharing experiences with you that he was supposed to have.” He groaned into the pillow. “I know I’m not making much sense. I just.” He stopped himself before he could expose himself completely.</p><p>“You just what?” Yixing pressed against him, torsos flush, noses brushing. “What are you thinking, Baekhyun?”</p><p>He whined high in the back of his throat, the last of his glass walls shattering under Yixing’s gentle, persistent pressure. “I’m thinking that I don’t want to miss this opportunity to have you again. Even if this fails, and I shatter myself by losing you again when I get back to my own time, it will have been worth it to have more time with you.”</p><p>There was more he could say, maybe that he <em>should</em> have said, but Yixing had closed the distance between them, scant though it was, to kiss him. “Then stop fighting this.” Yixing’s hand pressed into the small of his back, lips hungry against his, their legs slotting and tangling beneath the blanket.</p><p>His next inhale was fluttery in his chest, something light filling him up the longer he kissed Yixing, buoyant. He rolled onto his back, pulling Yixing on top of him and tangling his fingers in Yixing’s hair. Baekhyun’s exhaustion fell away as Yixing kissed him, losing himself in sensations he hadn’t felt in years. Even after all that time, he knew every part of Yixing. Where to kiss, when to gently tug on his lip with his teeth, where to let his mouth linger along the skin of his throat.</p><p>Yixing seemed intent on taking Baekhyun apart piece by piece, his hands going exactly where Baekhyun wanted them the most, each of them following parts in a symphony they’d memorized long ago. He sighed against Yixing’s neck as he slid his hands up Baekhyun’s shirt, digging into the small of his back when Baekhyun arched up against Yixing.</p><p>The quiet of the room was only broken by the rustling of the sheets and the sounds they coaxed from each other. Baekhyun shuddered as Yixing sucked a mark behind his ear, grinding his hips down until Baekhyun let the moan crawling up his throat free.</p><p>“Baek, baby,” he whispered into Baekhyun’s neck. Baekhyun dragged possessive fingers down the back of Yixing’s neck and between his shoulder blades, eliciting the sweetest of moans from Yixing.</p><p>He squirmed under Yixing’s weight, rearranging their legs until his were wrapped around Yixing’s hips. The next time Yixing rolled his hips, sparks of light erupted from his fingers, pleasure as they rubbed together manifesting in a physical way. He dug his fingers firmly into Yixing’s back, intent on keeping any accidental magic safely away. He had better control than that.</p><p>“Did you just make light?” Yixing sounded suspiciously close to laughing. “At the feel of my dick against yours?”</p><p>Baekhyun summoned an orb of light to hover above them so Yixing could clearly see the glare he leveled at him. “Shut up, I’m sensitive. I haven’t had you like this in years.”</p><p>Yixing’s face softened, the amusement fading from his mouth. He stroked a finger down Baekhyun’s cheek. “I’m here now, you have me now.”</p><p>He wrapped all of his limbs around Yixing, pulling him down and flush against him, hugging him tightly and turning his nose to the skin of his neck to breathe Yixing in. They stayed like that for a few moments, hands gently roaming and stroking, soaking each other in. It would never be enough for Baekhyun.</p><p>Yixing was using their current position to place slow, wet kisses against his neck, murmuring tender things with every brush of his lips. Baekhyun shifted underneath him, readjusting his legs, and a hot spike of pleasure shot through him as Yixing moved against him. The urgency returned like the tide rolling back in, his need to have Yixing settle under his skin like a tattoo kiss mounting.</p><p>It was clear Yixing felt the same urgency, as he gently extricated himself from Baekhyun’s arm to settle back on his knees, pulling off first his shirt, then Baekhyun’s. Unlike the first time they’d done this, Baekhyun was content to take his time, mapping out the dips and planes of Yixing’s skin with a tenderness he thought he’d forgotten.</p><p>Yixing was unraveling him with kiss after sweet kiss, working his way from Baekhyun’s lips and down his torso, scattered embers of heat that fed the growing fire under his skin, the itch to feel Yixing around and inside him growing like a wildfire.</p><p>He rolled his hips against Yixing’s needy and insistent, trying to rush Yixing along. Yixing chuckled against the skin of his abdomen, pulling Baekhyun’s pants down just far enough that his searching mouth could suck marks in the divot of his hip. “Easy, baby. Let me make you feel good.”</p><p>“You’re moving at a glacial pace,” he complained, groaning as Yixing’s fingers dug into his thighs, holding them still and keeping Baekhyun from squirming in his hold. He wracked his memory, searching through things he’d left to gather dust, until he remembered where they’d kept their lube for nights when the cravings for each other got too strong. He twisted his torso, leaning up and reaching under the corner of the mattress, searching blindly until his fingers closed around the small plastic bottle.</p><p>He flopped back against the bed, tossing the bottle to Yixing, who caught it easily. “Remind me how good you are with your hands,” Baekhyun ordered.</p><p>Yixing pressed a kiss to the inside of his knee through his pants, the kiss still searing like a brand. “As you wish, my love.”</p><p>He sighed as Yixing’s clever fingers worked under his waistband, shifting to help him get them down over his hips. Cool, slick fingers teased along his cock, stroking lightly and stoking the heat under his skin into a consistent simmer.</p><p>Yixing teased him for long enough that Baekhyun was about to threaten bodily harm if he didn’t get moving, when the world erupted into chaos around them. The unmistakable boom of a door being blown open had them scrambling for their clothes. The Red Force had found them.</p><p>“It’s too soon,” Baekhyun muttered as he shoved his feet into boots and reached for his rapier. “We should have a few more days.”</p><p>“Well, we don’t,” Yixing replied, finishing with his laces and heading to the door.</p><p>Baekhyun stopped him with a hand on his wrist. “Wait, one last thing.” He pulled Yixing in for a fast, desperate kiss. “Just in case,” he whispered. “Stay behind me, please.”</p><p>Yixing’s eyes tightened, but he nodded, letting Baekhyun lead the way out of the room.</p><p>The hallway was dark when Baekhyun emerged. They must have cut the power because they never turned them off otherwise. He summoned orbs of light to follow him around, lighting the way as he made his way past the other rooms. At his nod, Yixing knocked on each of them softly, rousing the rest of their team. Sleepy heads emerged from each, their eyes widening when they took in Baekhyun, motioning for them to be quiet, his rapier drawn and surrounded by orbs of light.</p><p>They only had a few moments before the first of the Red Force’s troops rounded the corner. Baekhyun stabbed him in the throat before he could make a sound, catching the body as it fell and setting it gently on the ground. Stealth was the only way they were going to get out of there. Furious whispering broke out behind him and he turned to glare them into silence, noting as he did that they’d all managed to find their way into shoes and proper clothes, trailing after him like ducklings.</p><p>They needed orders.</p><p>He quickly peeked around the corner, not seeing anyone coming down the hallway for them yet. “We’ve been found,” he whispered quickly. “I’m going to try and get us out without them finding us, so stick close to me and have your powers at the ready. Protect Yixing.” He waited a few precious seconds until he’d gotten nods from each of them, then turned back around. They would cover his back.</p><p>There were two more hallways and the main room they had to make it through before they reached the exit. He sent his orbs hovering around his team, making sure everyone had just enough light to move by, but hopefully not enough to give them away immediately.</p><p>He made it to the end of the next hallway before encountering the next of the Red Force. Four of them were working their way down the last hallway, clearing rooms as they went. Doubtless, there would be more of them in the main room, and probably more trying to flank them. A glance back showed Minseok and Chanyeol bringing up the rear of their group. He caught Jongin’s eye and motioned him forward.</p><p>“I need a distraction,” he whispered into Jongin’s ear. At his willing look, Baekhyun outlined his plan. “Can you do it?”</p><p>Jongin’s expression hardened with resolve. He nodded once.</p><p>“On your mark, then.”</p><p>Jongin vanished.</p><p>Baekhyun peered around the corner, seeing Jongin appear behind the four troops, tapping one of them on the shoulder and grinning and waving when he caught their attention. “Hey.”</p><p>He leaped around the corner, skimming off the quicksilver pool of his power to release a burst of light so bright it blinded everyone around him as Jongin vanished once more. All four stumbled, disoriented, and Baekhyun used every precious second.</p><p>He lunged, stabbing one through the chest, their Kevlar vests useless against his rapier. The troop slumped to the ground with a faint gurgle, but Baekhyun was already yanking his blade free and spinning to the next one, still too disoriented to avoid the blade as it slashed across his throat.</p><p>A wet warmth splattered across his face as the man sank to his knees, desperately clawing at his throat. Jongin’s distraction and his burst of light had been used up, the last two raising their guns and aiming at Baekhyun. He leapt forward, tucking into a somersault and rolling along the floor, unfurling at the feet of the nearest troop, his rapier finding a home between his ribs.</p><p>But there was still one more, and he’d followed Baekhyun’s movements too fast for him to free his blade and strike. He stared down the barrel of a gun as the man he’d stabbed fell backwards, taking Baekhyun’s rapier with him. He blinked at the man in front of him, weaponless.</p><p>A trio of icicles sprouted from his chest, and he sank to the ground with a stunned look, gun slipping from his grasp. Baekhyun whipped his head around to see Minseok giving him a satisfied smile. “Thanks,” he panted, acutely aware of how close he’d come to dying.</p><p>“No problem.”</p><p>He looked around to the rest of his team, noting the way they were all staring at him like he was a bizarre new creature. He’d deal with it later. “We’ve only got the main room left, and I’m certain there are more of them than I can handle on my own. We’re going to have to fight our way out, and we’ll need to watch our back. I’m certain they’ve moved to flank us.”</p><p>“Tell us what to do,” Junmyeon said, recovering first.</p><p>He took a few precious moments to think. “Jongin, can you do recon?” Jongin nodded. “Just pop in, count how many and where they’re at if you can, and report back to me. Don’t linger and try not to be seen.”</p><p>“Got it.”</p><p>“Go now.”</p><p>Jongin vanished. “The rest of you, around me. Reach for your power, you’re going to need it. Yixing, I want you behind me, with Chanyeol and Sehun bringing up our rear. If you combine your powers, you’ll be able to create an inferno to keep anyone off our flank.”</p><p>Everyone moved quickly into position without questioning him. Jongin reappeared, panting slightly.</p><p>“There’s nine of them,” Jongin reported. “Three at the door closest to us, four more covering the one we’ll need to exit from, and one more at each of the smaller entrances.”</p><p>“Well done. You counted them all?”</p><p>Jongin nodded. “Positive. I appeared on one of the rafters so they wouldn’t see me and had plenty of time to count.”</p><p>Baekhyun was impressed. Jongin was gaining quick mastery of his skill if he could appear on a metal beam hovering in the air. “Excellent.” He swept over the rest of the team. “Everyone ready?”</p><p>His team settled into ready stances, Jongdae on his right and Minseok to his left. He cracked his neck, took a deep breath, and slammed his heel into the door, sending it exploding inward. Jongdae and Minseok were inside as soon as he did, Jongdae reaching for the first troop and sending a jolt of electricity so strong through his body he continued convulsing when Jongdae released him. Minseok sent an icicle through the eye of the second, leaving Baekhyun the third to dispatch quickly with his rapier.</p><p>Their entrance had drawn the attention of the other six Red Force soldiers in the room, and they rushed for Baekhyun. Junmyeon summoned water and sent it coating the floor at their feet, Minseok freezing it beneath them in the next second. All six scrambled for traction as Jongdae and Baekhyun rushed them. Where their feet landed, dry ground appeared, turning back to ice as they lifted their feet away. When they made it out, he was going to praise his team.</p><p>They’d exceeded his expectations.</p><p>Jongdae managed to drop two of the men with bolts of electricity before a third slammed the butt of his gun into Jongdae’s temple. Jongdae collapsed like a puppet with its strings cut, and Kyungsoo appeared to take his place, sending the same troop to the ground with a glance, his bones cracking as Kyungsoo used his hand to exert more force on his prone body with an eerie blankness in his eyes.</p><p>Baekhyun sent a burst of light directly into the eyes of the next soldier to rush him, blinding him long enough for his blade to sink into his throat. An amber glow exploded at his back as Chanyeol let his power loose, incredible waves of heat washing over them.</p><p>The soldiers had found their flank, then.</p><p>He watched Junmyeon send a flood of water into the mouth of another soldier, drowning him on dry land, while Jongin distracted the last one long enough for Minseok to skewer him with ice. Yixing rushed to Jongdae, putting his hands on either side of his head, while the others pivoted to aid Sehun and Chanyeol in protecting their flank.</p><p>“Jongin,” Baekhyun shouted over the noise of Chanyeol’s inferno, “clear our exit!”</p><p>Jongin vanished outside and Baekhyun moved to stand guard while Yixing healed Jongdae. “Is he going to be okay?” No sooner had he asked than Jongdae gasped, waking with a start and jumping up. Yixing steadied him as the blood caught up to his sudden movement, keeping him from fainting back to the floor.</p><p>“What happened?” Jongdae groaned, clutching at his head.</p><p>“You took the butt of a gun to the head,” Baekhyun said. “Yixing’s healed you though, you should be fine.”</p><p>“Are we winning?”</p><p>Jongin reappeared. “Outside is clear.”</p><p>“We are now,” Baekhyun answered Jongdae, whistling sharply to his team. “Let’s move!”</p><p>He rushed for the exit, Jongdae, Yixing, Jongin and Kyungsoo on his heels, the rest of them backing up and covering them as Chanyeol and Sehun kept the flames hot and bright. He hauled the door open, rusty wheels screeching against the concrete floor, urging the first half of his team out while waiting for the rest of them.</p><p>Junmyeon and Minseok followed, then Sehun, and finally Chanyeol, shaking the fire from his hands and helping Baekhyun close the door on all that fire behind them. Baekhyun let go of the door, watching as Chanyeol lingered for a few moments longer, the metal turning a fierce red under his touch, superheated.</p><p>“That should keep them from following us for a while,” Chanyeol said, a self-satisfied smile crossing his face.</p><p>“Good work everyone,” Baekhyun praised. “Now, let’s get out of here.”</p>
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<a name="section0009"><h2>9. Chapter 9</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>this chapter is the one that deserves the dubcon tag, if only because consent is given but it could be considered as under duress? It honestly probably barely deserves the tag but i always want to be careful. It's the first half of this chapter; be safe darlings &lt;3</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>The only thing that could distract Baekhyun from his concern over Junmyeon was diving into the books he’d been given. They were old. The pages felt fragile under his fingers, like they would dissolve if touched too much. The bindings cracked as Baekhyun opened the first book, the leather cover soft with age.</p><p>It was immediately clear that he wouldn’t be able to understand anything written within the pages. It was a looping, scrawling language he didn’t know, although he could recognize his own hasty scrawl across many of the pages as he flipped through quickly. Had he learned the language?</p><p>Each page had a healthy mix of pictures and words, and at first glance it looked like some sort of ancient science. However, the more he looked, the more a story seemed to appear within the photos. He set the book—open to a page that had a beautiful drawing of a tree on it—on the bed and reached for another one, looking for more information and context.</p><p>It took him an hour to make sense of everything he had, but with all four books spread around him on his bed and some scraps of paper for scribbling on, he’d gotten the most important bits figured out.</p><p>His future self had discovered the source behind their powers.</p><p>The first book he’d opened depicted a tree, under which he’d scrawled <em>source</em> and underlined it twice. It was still jarring to see thoughts and musings he’d written but couldn’t remember because he hadn’t done it yet. But it was thanks to his notes that he’d been able to figure it out at all.</p><p>The second book he’d opened had been a fairy tale—or so he’d thought at first. It told the story of twelve beings, each harnessing an ability given to them by the gods of some distant planet. Their sole purpose in life was to nurture and protect the tree of life, the source of life for the whole universe. They’d traveled the universe together, living many lives and exploring different worlds. But dogging their every step was a malevolent force that wished to obtain their powers for their own purposes, hunting them from every world, denying them peace.</p><p>Here, Baekhyun’s notes asked, <em>if we are these beings, why do I only know of nine? what happened to the other three?</em></p><p>The malevolent force he’d quickly labeled as the Red Force, although his notes wondered if it took a different form world to world.</p><p>The story went on to tell how two of the beings found their way to one another, and by drawing on the powers they’d been given by the gods, managed to use their distant connection with the tree of life to destroy the evil at its source, restoring balance to the universe. Then, the being blessed by light and the being whose touch lifted pain faded, finding everlasting rest among the stars, watching over the others.</p><p>“Well that’s depressing,” he muttered, pouring over his own notes. He’d drawn lines from the words <em>light </em>and <em>touch</em> to the margin, where he’d written <em>me? </em>and <em>Yixing?</em> respectively. But…if that was the case, then it was up to him and Yixing to restore balance to the universe. And he couldn’t do that if he didn’t have Yixing, never mind that he didn’t know <em>how.</em></p><p>The third book he opened had more drawings, notated in that strange, unreadable language that his future self had indeed learned how to read. The fourth book taught the language, and his handwriting filled every margin and the spaces between the text. The third book depicted twelve sigils, and if it weren’t for his handwriting labeling each, he would have no idea what some of them were.</p><p>Frost, water, lightning, air, fire, light, teleportation, force and healing were all there, with each of their names matched up to them. He’d known everyone’s already, except that Kyungsoo was force, while Minseok was frost. But the last three sigils, flight, time and telekinesis, were left without names, labeled only by the translations and the haunting question <em>why don’t I remember them??</em></p><p>Deeper into the book, it began talking about the power of eclipses, how the keepers of the tree would use them to journey from planet to planet, never lingering anywhere for too long in fear of losing one of the keepers to the force that hunted them. Here, the notes referenced a different book, saying, <em>we lost the unknown three and it trapped us here, according to pg. 23.</em></p><p>It would make sense, he supposed, if they needed all of them to move planets. But why didn’t they remember any of this? Why did their powers come to them now, when it was almost too late to do anything to stop the Red Force?</p><p>A few pages later, he’d answered those questions too. A single word was written and underlined in the first book, after a paragraph talking about the rebirth of the gods, their powers resetting in fresh vessels, prepared to fight the malevolence anew. At the bottom of the page, he’d scrawled, <em>reincarnation?</em></p><p>The ancient text slipped from his fingers, falling to the bed with a soft thump, his eyes unseeing. Reincarnation? His mind whirled with thoughts, the most prevalent was wondering how he’d ever figured so much of this out. But if he was right, it could explain everything, especially if they’d lost the three unknown before their latest reincarnation cycle. He flipped back to the third book, to the last few pages, past the part about the power of eclipses. There, it talked about a safety measure, only triggered when the keepers were in danger of having their powers taken by the Red Force. Once triggered, it would continue until the two beings united. It was frustratingly vague about what the safety measure was, but his handwriting filled in the gaps between the words, his future self’s theories about how reincarnation was the safety measure, resetting their powers with each new life they lived until he and Yixing were able to figure out how to destroy the source of the Red Force.</p><p>He cradled his head in his hands, suddenly overcome by the enormity of what he was reading. With the odds so stacked against them, was there any hope?</p><p>There had to be. For the first time since he’d woken up in the future, he wondered what exactly his future self was doing in the past. He’d been so overwhelmed by the clones and how dire and bleak the future seemed that it hadn’t occurred to him that the gods might be giving them a chance to meet the circumstances needed to save the universe.</p><p>And if that was the case, his future self already knew what needed to be done. It was possible that he would be trying to change the past enough to give them a chance in either the past or future.</p><p>He just wished he knew what the plan was. One thing he was certain of, however, was the fact that his future self was armed with all the information he needed, and had Yixing with him. If there was a chance, he would find it.</p><p>Baekhyun continued to pour over the texts and notes until his vision blurred, and then he carefully closed them and placed them under his bed. He flopped back against the single, unsatisfying pillow and stared up at the lights lining the ceiling, mind loud and quiet all at once.</p><p>The power within him stirred, as if his turbulent thoughts were waking it from a deep slumber. He let his eyes drift shut, falling back through the layers of his mind until he was standing in his inner landscape. It was less barren than it had been the first time he’d done this, shoots of grass sprouting from cracks in the ground, a copse of trees in the distance, just beyond the shimmering pool of his power.</p><p>He stepped forward and closed the distance in the blink of an eye, moonlit water lapping at his bare toes, cool and warm against his skin from one moment to the next. Diving in was an instinct rather than a choice, swimming down into his power and aiming for the bottom he’d reached before.</p><p>His fingers brushed the bottom of the pool, sandy and coarse, before it melted away beneath his touch. Yawning silvery depths stared back at him, so deep he couldn’t see a bottom.</p><p>Baekhyun resurfaced from his mind with a gasp, lungs screaming for air, his eyes flying open. He held his hands up in front of his face, wondering how powerful, exactly, he was. The pool had a false bottom, and he wasn’t brave enough to face another revelation tonight.</p><p>“You seem unsettled, and this time it wasn’t by me.”</p><p>He sat up, groaning when he saw Baëkhyun standing in the doorway of his room, frowning at him. “So is Kāi like, your personal taxi or what?”</p><p>Baëkhyun smiled with absolutely no warmth. “It’s about all he’s good for. Your version is much more entertaining.”</p><p>“What will it take for you to leave me alone?” It was a risk, trying to reason with his clone instead of attacking him like his gut instinct always pushed for, but he wasn’t in the mood to fight tonight.</p><p>Baëkhyun made a good show of pretending to think. “Nothing you’d be willing to give.”</p><p>“Try me,” Baekhyun dared, squaring his shoulders.</p><p>Baëkhyun’s eyebrows shot up in apparent surprise. “Well, you are full of surprises. Fine. Come and play with me for a night.”</p><p>He swallowed thickly. There was no room for doubt in Baëkhyun’s tone when he said ‘play’.</p><p>“I’ll return you tomorrow morning, and I even promise it will be in one piece.”</p><p>“And you’ll leave me alone after that?”</p><p>Baëkhyun tilted his head with a smirk. “For a while, sure.”</p><p>“Promise that I’ll get at least two weeks without you bothering me.” He couldn’t believe he was negotiating sex for some peace and quiet.</p><p>“One week,” Baëkhyun rebutted, his voice unyielding.</p><p>He sighed heavily through his nose. “Fine.” It was fair enough, he supposed, that one night would buy him one week. It was probably as generous as he was going to get from Baëkhyun. “And no Chën. I don’t want to deal with him too. This deal only extends to you.”</p><p>He scrunched his nose, silver chain shifting slightly at the motion, but he said, “Fine. Only you and me.” Baëkhyun did something with the bracelet he always wore, and Kāi appeared a moment later, automatically reaching for Baëkhyun.</p><p>Baëkhyun reached out for him, pulling him to his feet and not letting go, his hand cold against Baekhyun’s skin. Kāi gave them a curious look before shrugging and vanishing, taking Baekhyun and his clone with him.</p><p>It was distinctly unpleasant, feeling every cell in his body dissolve and then reassemble somewhere else. He couldn’t be sure that was exactly what was happening, but it sure felt like it.</p><p>He coughed when his feet touched on solid ground, trying not to heave. Baëkhyun’s hand was still around his wrist, and he only had a moment to get his bearings before his clone was tugging him down a hallway that looked nearly identical to the hallways he’d just left behind. The only difference was the tech.</p><p>The door to the room Baëkhyun led him to opened without a sound, the touchpad on the wall a sleeker, more updated design than the ones Baekhyun had gotten used to back at the compound they were living out of. He was barely even aware of the door shutting behind him, trying to absorb the room around him as quickly as possible.</p><p>He didn’t get much of a chance. Baëkhyun was on him as soon as they were alone, his mouth hungry and insistent against Baekhyun’s. He stiffened slightly as his clone’s hands settled on his hips, gripping meanly, nipping at Baekhyun’s lip when he went unresponsive to the kiss. It was so weird still, being kissed by himself.</p><p>“Play along, baby,” Baëkhyun purred, kissing along his jaw. “You’ll have more fun if you relax, I promise.” His mouth found the spot beneath Baekhyun’s ear, making him shiver at the warmth that dripped through him.</p><p>“That’s more like it,” Baëkhyun cooed, backing him up against a wall and joining their mouths again.</p><p>He closed his eyes, tried to get lost in the sensations Baëkhyun was coaxing from him instead of <em>who</em> was kissing him, allowing himself to loosen up. The more he did, the gentler and slower the kisses became, until he was drowning in a sensual push and pull. He knotted shaking fingers in Baëkhyun’s hair, using his hold to tilt Baëkhyun’s head and deepening the kiss.</p><p>Baëkhyun made a happy, soft sound in the back of his throat and Baekhyun had a moment to think that maybe this wouldn’t be the worst night of his life. Baëkhyun’s teeth dragged along his bottom lip as he pulled away, and heat flared in Baekhyun’s stomach even as he tried to tell himself he shouldn’t enjoy kissing <em>himself.</em></p><p>“Who is Yixing, puppy?”</p><p>Before he could answer, Baëkhyun was back to lush, heady kisses that made it so hard to think Baekhyun forgot the question. He sighed as Baëkhyun’s hands drifted down his body, settling at his hips</p><p>It felt good up until he realized Baëkhyun had pinned him against the wall, caging him into a corner where he couldn’t escape unless he went through Baëkhyun, and the reality of the situation came crashing back down on him. He’d offered himself to his clone for an entire night, no limits discussed, in exchange for being left alone for a week.</p><p>It was then he registered Baëkhyun’s question.</p><p>“Yixing isn’t important,” he tried, pulling away and resting his head against the wall, barely an inch of space between them. Icy blue eyes stared into his soul, and he could tell from the emotion hidden deep in those glacial depths that Baëkhyun didn’t believe him.</p><p>“Did he kiss you like I do?” Baëkhyun swept back in, a harsh, demanding edge to his kiss, teeth scraping against his lips and tongue insistent, this kiss overwhelming in its intensity.</p><p>He needed space, a moment to collect himself enough to reply, but the onslaught was too much to think around. He bit down on Baëkhyun’s lip. Hard.</p><p>Baëkhyun reeled back and wiped the blood from his lip with wide eyes.</p><p>“I said you could have me for a night, not that I would roll right over for you.” Baekhyun tried to keep the petulance from his tone, although he wasn’t sure he succeeded.</p><p>“I like a bit of a challenge.” Petulant or not, Baëkhyun seemed distracted from the topic of Yixing, which was worth him looking childish.</p><p>“Well this is interesting.”</p><p>Baekhyun looked toward the doorway, his stomach sinking as he saw what had to be Jongdae’s clone standing there, smirking at the sight of him tangled up in Baëkhyun.</p><p>“Is this a new model you’re breaking in?” Chën asked, coming closer. “I thought they’d already disposed of the defective ones?”</p><p>Instead of puzzling through the horror of <em>that</em> question, Baekhyun focused on the details as Chën came closer, immediately fixating on the lip piercing at the right corner of his mouth that had chains connecting to an earring. Chën was dressed in crimson, pants and the long-sleeved shirt molded to his slim frame. He met Chën’s gaze, shivering slightly when he stared into a pair of mismatched eyes much like Kāi’s. Was that a clone thing?</p><p>“Oh, he shivers when you come close,” Baëkhyun said, his voice almost a coo. “Poor little puppy, I think he’s scared of you.”</p><p>“Finally, one of you has good instincts. Your original is far to obstinate to be afraid of me,” Chën seemed to lament. “Despite my best efforts.”</p><p>“I’m not sure where they found this one, but he’s not one of ours,” Baëkhyun said. “He seems younger than Prime, but I don’t know why.”</p><p>Baekhyun kept his mouth resolutely shut. He didn’t want the clones to know anything about where he’d come from. The fact that Kāi knew was already too much.</p><p>Chën came closer, inhaling deeply right next to his throat. “He smells so new. Let’s break him in, like old times.”</p><p>“No,” Baekhyun blurted, trying to sidle away from Chën. Baëkhyun kept him from going anywhere, the grip on his hips turning bruising. “That wasn’t part of the deal.”</p><p>Baëkhyun grimaced. “He’s right, I promised it would only be between me and him.” His expression cleared into something devious, immediately putting Baekhyun on edge. “You can watch, though.”</p><p>Chën’s smirked like a cat with cream. “I can live with that.” He moved to a corner of the room, settling in a chair there, like this was a routine they’d done before. “Go on, pretend I’m not here.”</p><p>“Now, where were we,” Baëkhyun purred, pulling Baekhyun’s focus back to him. “You were going to tell me who Yixing is, I believe.”</p><p>Damn.</p><p>Baekhyun closed the distance between them, kissing Baëkhyun in a last-ditch effort to distract him away from Yixing. He pushed Baëkhyun back, walking them away from the wall and toward the bed. If he was going to do this, he may as well be an active participant and not a doormat.</p><p>The more engaged he could keep Baëkhyun, the easier it would be to protect Yixing from the clone’s dirty hands. He let Baëkhyun push him onto the bed—which was much bigger and softer than the one he had—and tried not to be afraid as his clone crawled over him with a predatory grace, smirk firmly in place.  </p><p>He closed his eyes.</p><p>“I think you should tie him up,” Chën suggested, voice low and dangerous from his spot in the corner. “He’s far too handsy.”</p><p>His eyes snapped open.</p><p>“What an excellent idea.”</p><p>Baekhyun whimpered as Baëkhyun pulled silk ties from what seemed like thin air, as if he’d merely been waiting for Chën to make the suggestion. “No, wait!” he protested, as Baëkhyun deftly tied his wrists to the bedframe, his arms stretched above his head.</p><p>“My patience has worn thin,” Baëkhyun said, ignoring his protest. “You’re mine for the night, don’t forget. Hush, now, or I’ll gag you.”</p><p>“You could gag him with something else,” Chën remarked. A glance at him showed he was sporting a sly smile. Baekhyun quickly looked away, finding a surprising reprieve in Baëkhyun’s gaze.</p><p>“Maybe, if he gets too mouthy.” Baëkhyun made quick work of his pants, stripping Baekhyun of his clothes but leaving his shirt, shoes following shortly after.</p><p>He felt a strange mix of exposed and hidden, with his underwear and shirt still on but Baëkhyun above him still fully clothed. Baëkhyun curled his fingers in the waistband of his underwear, leaning down and pressing kisses to the soft skin of Baekhyun’s belly, lips gentle and soft as he worked him free of the garment.</p><p>Baekhyun tried to relax, tried to focus on the feeling of Baëkhyun’s lips against his skin. If he kept his gaze focused on the ceiling, he could almost pretend it was Yixing kissing his way along the cradle of his hips, teeth grazing the thin skin over his hipbone. Goosebumps broke out over his skin at the sensation, a red string of arousal swirling around his spine.</p><p>Dry fingers rubbed over his entrance, making him gasp and flinch away, even as Baëkhyun applied his mouth to his barely hard cock with a significant amount of skill. One hand settled at his hip, keeping him in place as his mouth began to coax Baekhyun to hardness, the other returning to probe at his entrance, fingers cool and slick now.</p><p>He tried to keep his breathing steady through the first finger, focusing on the wet warmth of Baëkhyun’s mouth and the sensations he was pulling from Baekhyun’s body. It felt <em>good,</em> having Baëkhyun’s mouth around him. He finally understood why Yixing always came so quickly whenever he’d gone down on him. His was a mouth of sin.</p><p>At two fingers, Baëkhyun had enough length to brush against his prostate, the combined pleasure of that and his mouth making Baekhyun tug against the ties. He felt adrift, unable to grasp anything to ground him, only his pleasure keeping him present.</p><p>He hadn’t expected Baëkhyun to care about his pleasure. He’d expected to be taken roughly, without consideration for his wants, but aside from the discomfort of being restrained, he was finding a surprising amount of pleasure. Baekhyun lifted his head to look down his body, shivering when cerulean eyes met his, unblinking as Baëkhyun continued to work him over with his mouth and fingers.</p><p>Baekhyun let his head drop, his gaze returning to the ceiling, his breathing coming faster as an unsettling amount of desire and arousal pooled deep in his gut. He tried not to make noise, to give his clone as little as possible, but Baëkhyun did something with his wrist that had delicious sensation tingling up his spine, and Baekhyun was helpless to the soft sigh of pleasure that overcame him.</p><p>“Good boy,” Baëkhyun praised, shifting to bite softly at Baekhyun’s abdomen, his teeth dragging along the tender skin. Baekhyun started to feel frayed.</p><p>“You’re off your game today,” Chën observed, legs crossed primly as he watched Baëkhyun work his fingers in and out of Baekhyun.</p><p>“Well I don’t want to break him <em>too</em> quickly,” Baëkhyun replied, biting at the inside of Baekhyun’s thigh as his fingers kept working him open. “Where would be the fun in that?”</p><p>“But this is so <em>tame,” </em>Chën complained. “I’m not even hard.”</p><p>Baëkhyun rolled his eyes. “Your pleasure is hardly one of my concerns, at present.” He licked a strip up Baekhyun’s cock, adding a third finger. “Just sit there and be quiet, Chën. You can tie me up later if you want.”</p><p>Chën’s lips curled in a satisfied way, tongue darting out to play with his lip ring. Baekhyun wondered if Baëkhyun had been his target all along. He turned his gaze away from Chën, looking back up at the ceiling as he tried to get lost in the sensations Baëkhyun was evoking with his fingers and mouth. Baëkhyun crooked all three fingers, and Baekhyun rolled his hips down in answer, a gasp escaping him.</p><p>He closed his eyes, trying to get control of himself. Baëkhyun would work him up with his fingers, precise and confident in his movements, until Baekhyun was teetering on the edge, and then pull back, slowing or stilling until Baekhyun was stewing in pleasure that wouldn’t crest. It was exquisite torture, being completely at his clone’s mercy.</p><p>It was like Baëkhyun knew exactly how to take him apart.</p><p>“Look at me,” Baëkhyun murmured, and it would always be weird to hear his voice issuing commands directed at him. Baekhyun opened his eyes into an ocean of tropical blue, Baëkhyun’s gaze consuming. His arms twitched in aborted movement. He wanted to bury his fingers in that silvery white hair; pull Baëkhyun down into a kiss that would unravel him completely.</p><p>A small whine slipped through his lips as Baëkhyun withdrew his fingers. “Easy, puppy,” Baëkhyun whispered. “I got you. I know exactly how to take care of you.” He pressed a slow, lazy kiss to Baekhyun’s lips. “I am you, remember?”</p><p>As if he could forget. He bit at Baëkhyun’s lower lip in response, startling a yip out of him. Baëkhyun pinched his nipple in retaliation, leaning back on his knees and pulling off his shirt. He watched as Baëkhyun slowly unbuttoned and unzipped his pants, gaze never leaving Baekhyun. His clone didn’t bother taking off his pants, just pulled himself out of his underwear and leaned back over Baekhyun.</p><p>“Now, tell me, pretty thing, who is Yixing?”</p><p>Baekhyun could feel the head of Baëkhyun’s cock nudging against his entrance, making it hard to remember why he shouldn’t answer. “Isn’t calling me pretty just complimenting yourself?” he eked out through clenched teeth.</p><p>“I am many things, but humble is not one of them,” Baëkhyun remarked casually, before slamming his hips forward.</p><p>Baekhyun shouted in surprise, hands tugging against the ties, trying to wiggle away despite Baëkhyun’s grip on his hips. Here was the roughness he’d expected earlier, as Baëkhyun gave him no time to adjust or breathe through the sudden stretch. He kept one hand on his hip, fingers digging in hard enough to bruise, while the other went to his leg, pressing it up to Baekhyun’s chest to give himself deeper access as his hips worked at a steady pace.</p><p>Baëkhyun changed the angles of his strokes slightly each time, until he hit Baekhyun’s prostate. He choked on a moan, and above him, Baëkhyun grinned in triumph. He kept the pace steady and even, driving the pleasure in his stomach higher and higher until Baekhyun was nearly choking on it, his fingers flexing as he tried to grab at air.</p><p>“I’m—nngh,” he tried to cut himself off, not wanting to give Baëkhyun more than he already had, when Baëkhyun pulled out, stopping his oncoming orgasm in its tracks. “Hey!” he protested, yanking at the ties hard enough to chafe.</p><p>“Who is Yixing?” Baëkhyun asked, moving the hand at his hip to clamp around the base of Baekhyun’s cock. “Tell me.”</p><p>“Fuck you,’ Baekhyun spat, muscles shaking as the tension had nowhere to go, no release. His eyes watered as Baëkhyun stroked up his cock, grip too tight to feel entirely good.</p><p>“Mmm, maybe later, if you’re interested,” Baëkhyun replied, nonchalant. He lined up and thrust back in sharply, finding Baekhyun’s prostate with perfect precision. “Tell me who Yixing is and I’ll let you come.”</p><p>“No,” Baekhyun whimpered, gritting his teeth and clenching down around Baëkhyun. “You come.” He had the distinct pleasure of watching Baëkhyun’s eyes roll back in his head slightly, his hips stuttering for the first time. Baekhyun rolled his hips, his shirt riding up his stomach as he moved.</p><p>“Well,” Baëkhyun panted, recovering quickly, his hips finding their rhythm again. “Aren’t you stubborn.” He licked his palm, wrapping his long fingers around the head of Baekhyun’s cock and playing with it, pleasure rising sharply as he did.</p><p>Baekhyun groaned under the onslaught, helpless to do anything other than take what Baëkhyun was giving him. He was so close he could <em>taste</em> it, pleasure winding tighter and tighter with each stroke of Baëkhyun’s hand, every brush against his prostate. He squeezed his eyes shut, tears slipping from the corners of his eyes and into his hair, everything tense and tight and <em>unbearable.</em></p><p>“Tell me who Yixing is, and I’ll let you come,” Baëkhyun promised, leaning down to bite at Baekhyun’s jaw. “It will feel so much better.”</p><p>“P-please, I—”</p><p>“You what, puppy?”</p><p>“I love him,” Baekhyun whispered brokenly, more tears spilling from his eyes, the bitter tang of betrayal filling his mouth.</p><p>Baëkhyun thrust in sharply, making him cry out at the sensation, struggling against the ties. “There, was that so hard?”</p><p>Yes, it was.</p><p>“So Yixing is your boyfriend? Lover?” Baëkhyun peppered kisses along his neck, hand working him over faster.</p><p>“Yes,” Baekhyun admitted, desperate and wrung out and <em>shivering</em> with the need to come.</p><p>“Good boy,” Baëkhyun praised, twisting his wrist over the head of Baekhyun’s cock as he hit his prostate, enough to <em>finally</em> make Baekhyun come with a strangled cry.</p><p>Baëkhyun worked his hips faster as Baekhyun came, leaning back for more leverage as he grinned down triumphantly at Baekhyun. He closed those ice-blue eyes and let his head drop back with a sigh as he came, hips eventually coming to a stop before he pulled out, wiping himself off with the sheet before tucking himself back into his pants.</p><p>Baekhyun’s legs fell back onto the bed, muscles watery and weak, small tremors of aftershocks rolling through him. He breathed deeply, trying to come back to himself.</p><p>“I would have had him sobbing by now,” Chën commented. Baekhyun flinched. He’d forgotten Chën had been watching them, so lost in his own body and what Baëkhyun was making him feel. “I think you’re off your game.”</p><p>Baëkhyun rolled his eyes. “This one isn’t as resilient as Prime, I can tell. No use in traumatizing him when I need information from him.”</p><p>Chën stood, brushing non-existent creases from his pants. “Well, this was boring. I’m going to go to Suhø’s room—I heard him planning an entertaining time with his original and that bitch Sehůn was cloned from. I think I’ll watch.”</p><p>“Please,” Baëkhyun snorted as Chën sauntered from the room. “He’ll never let you watch. He never does, not when it’s with them.”</p><p> Chën ignored him.</p><p>“Can you untie me now?” Baekhyun asked, his shoulders aching. Baëkhyun turned to him, eyes wide. “Did you…<em>forget I was here?”</em></p><p><em>“Noooo,” </em>Baëkhyun insisted, moving to undo the ties around Baekhyun’s wrists. He whimpered as Baëkhyun slowly lowered his wrists to rest at his sides, his muscles protesting the change in position. He watched Baekhyun shudder in place for a moment, absolutely no emotion in his eyes, before collecting his clothes and dumping them on Baekhyun. “When you’re ready I can have Kāi return you, as promised.”</p><p>His tongue stuck to the roof of his mouth. That was it? Baëkhyun did all that for two sentences about Yixing? He wobbled to his feet, slightly dead arms struggling to pull himself back into his underwear and pants, Baëkhyun watching him silently with a blank expression.</p><p>Baekhyun felt like shit. Still, as he got his shoes back on, he managed to say, “I don’t want to see you for a week, as promised.”</p><p>“Sure,” Baëkhyun replied, voice flat. “One week.”</p><p>“Get me out of here.”</p><p>Baëkhyun touched his bracelet, Kāi appearing a moment later. Once he’d appeared, Baëkhyun left the room. Kāi looked at him in question.</p><p>His cum was drying under his shirt, making him feel itchy and uncomfortable.</p><p>“Can you take me to Chanyeol? Mine, not yours.” Baekhyun’s voice was barely a whisper, but Kāi nodded all the same, taking his hand in a gentle hold.</p><p>He closed his eyes, and when he opened them again, he was looking at a surprised Chanyeol, Kāi’s hand releasing his with a gentle squeeze before he disappeared.</p><p>“Baek?” Chanyeol whispered, rubbing at his eyes. It must be the middle of the night by now, but Baekhyun had lost all sense of time. “What’s wrong? Was that Kāi?”</p><p>“Can I, uh, sleep in here?” He sniffed, vision going blurry. Chanyeol scooted over in his bed, pink hair in disarray, lifting the blanket.</p><p>Baekhyun’s breath hitched on a sob, stumbling across the room as he fought his way free of his shoes and pants, slipping underneath the blanket in nothing but his underwear and shirt, immediately cuddling into Chanyeol’s warmth. He shuddered as big, strong arms wrapped him up, holding him close, Chanyeol tucking his head under his chin.</p><p>He didn’t speak, just let Baekhyun shudder apart quietly in his arms, radiating warmth. His hands smoothed up and down Baekhyun’s back, calming him and giving him the kind, gentle touches he needed. Without Yixing, it was the closest he’d felt to being loved in a long time.</p><p>“Do you want to talk about it?” Chanyeol whispered, when the tears had stopped and Baekhyun was limp in his hold.</p><p>He started to shake his head, then reconsidered. “It was just, bad. I made a deal with my clone. He’d leave me alone for a week if he could have me for a night. And it wasn’t anything I couldn’t handle, except at the end he acted like I was nothing, once he’d gotten what he wanted from me.” His breathing hitched over the remnant of a sob. “It felt bad.”</p><p>Chanyeol grumbled out a low sound. “I’ll set him on fire for you.”</p><p>Baekhyun squeezed an arm around Chanyeol’s waist, too tired to laugh but amused all the same. “The clones suck.”</p><p>“Yeah,” Chanyeol agreed, “they do. Yours and Suhø more than the others. Mine just tries to kill me, not torture me.”</p><p>“Mine does that too. I think it just depends on his mood.” He yawned, exhaustion catching him quickly in the wake of everything.</p><p>“Sleep,” Chanyeol rumbled.</p><p>Warm and safe, Baekhyun drifted into oblivion.</p><p>*</p><p>Baekhyun forgot how much he hated life on the run. It was fucking exhausting. He was a pampered, spoiled revolutionary and living in the same place for so long had made him dread sleeping in a different place each night, constantly looking over his shoulder.</p><p>So rarely did his team leave their compound he’d almost forgotten how desolate their world had become under the reign of the Red Force. He was becoming reacquainted depressingly quickly though.</p><p>The others had no such trouble, Junmyeon gathering himself with admirable speed and leading them around the outskirts of the city, somehow managing to spot the Red Force scouts before they stumbled into their traps. Jongin proved useful in looking ahead, his growing grasp over his powers showing as he went further and further each time, doing his best to keep them from danger.</p><p>“Let’s stop here for the night,” Junmyeon said, emerging from the abandoned house they’d found on the outskirts. It was derelict, but enough of the roof was intact to provide shelter from the ash snow and Red Force sweeper drones. “It will be livable with a little work.”</p><p>Kyungsoo volunteered to stand guard while the rest of them stepped in. By the time Baekhyun stepped over the threshold Sehun’s wind was swirling through the house, sweeping away years of dirt and dust from the floors and surfaces. Yixing was crouched over Minseok, who had twisted an ankle earlier trying to hide from a scout, his hands on his ankle until Minseok’s expression of discomfort faded into one of relief.</p><p>Further inside, Junmyeon had found the kitchen and was pulling water through the pipes until it ran clean, bubbling some and floating it to Baekhyun, who opened his mouth obediently so Junmyeon could place it on his tongue. In the last few days, his team had come to rely heavily on their powers, discovering the practical ways in which they could be used. Junmyeon had also come into his role as defacto leader quickly, taking charge when Baekhyun had hung back and waited to see what he would decide. Leadership had never been one of his desires, despite how hard he’d driven them when they’d asked him to train them. Junmyeon was naturally much more suited to the role.</p><p>“Thanks,” he said, swallowing the mouthful of fresh, clean tasting water. Junmyeon offered him a tired smile before proceeding to bubble more water and feeding the rest of them like baby birds, sending water zooming through the house for each of them.</p><p>Yixing joined him, saying, “Baek and I will take first watch.”</p><p>Junmyeon narrowed his eyes at Yixing as if to see through their bullshit but nodded his agreement anyway when all he found in Yixing’s expression was serene innocence. Baekhyun’s body cried for rest. After three days of constant anxiety, running from shelter to shelter, scrounging for food, he was tired.</p><p>“Okay, but stay close so we can hear you shout if danger finds us again.”</p><p>Baekhyun gave Junmyeon a lazy salute, letting Yixing tug him out the back door. The house was hemmed in from behind by a wall of brittle looking trees, silent sentinels in a world of ashy despair. Yixing dragged him into the shadows cast by them, pressing Baekhyun against the nearest trunk with a heady sigh, lips meeting in the dark.</p><p>Baekhyun melted against the rough bark at his back, pulling Yixing closer to him by his hips, mouths turning hungry and urgent in the first private moment they’d shared in days. Up until now it had been stolen looks and soft touches, sleeping next to one another when they felt safe enough, desire and need simmering between them, building endlessly.</p><p>Yixing cupped his jaw, slowing the kiss to something warm and tender, giving Baekhyun time to bask in the love between them. He clung to Yixing’s shirt, letting the emotions overcome him, filling the spaces left desolate and breathing new life into them. He’d been given the chance to have Yixing again. No point in denying himself this chance, even if it ended with his heart in pieces yet again.</p><p>Yixing mouthed down Baekhyun’s neck as his hands trailed simmering fire down his torso, pulling his shirt free of his pants and slipping them under, skin on skin. He arched against Yixing, tangling one hand in Yixing’s hair, the other bracing against his shoulder as he slowly sank to his knees before him. Yixing pushed his shirt up, hands at his waist, leaving soft kisses against his belly, teeth scraping lightly.</p><p>“Yixing,” he breathed, as Yixing used one hand to work his pants open. He looked up at Baekhyun through his lashes, barely visible in the dim light of the red moon, hiding a satisfied smile against the skin of his tummy as Baekhyun hardened quickly under his palm.</p><p>“Let me make you feel good, sweet baby,” Yixing murmured, working Baekhyun free of his pants and stroking slowly.</p><p>He tightened his grip in Yixing’s hair as he swallowed him down smoothly, letting go of Yixing’s shoulder with his other hand in favor of gripping the trunk behind him, needing something to ground him as Yixing got to work. He’d forgotten how good Yxing’s mouth was; how well he knew Baekhyun’s body.</p><p>It was all he could do to keep from shouting as Yixing swirled his tongue around the head of Baekhyun’s cock before sliding deeper, his throat closing like a vise around him. He let his head fall back against the tree, blinking up through shadowy spindles of bare branches at the black sky, a bloody moon struggling to break through obsidian clouds. He took a deep breath, releasing his hold on Yixing’s hair and looking back down to press his thumb at the corner of Yixing’s mouth, slick with spit.</p><p>Yixing groaned quietly around him at the touch, the sound chasing a shiver up Baekhyun’s spine, arousal coiling tightly.</p><p>“I’m not going to last long, baby,” Baekhyun warned. It had been too long for him, too many years spent craving exactly this.</p><p>In response, Yixing sucked harder, making his knees quake. He pulled off long enough to say, “Good. I don’t want you to,” before diving back in.</p><p>Baekhyun could barely breathe as Yixing set to work unraveling him, glancing up at Baekhyun coyly every time he did something he <em>knew</em> drove Baekhyun to new levels of desperation. He relinquished his hold on the tree to stroke Yixing’s hair away from his forehead, feelings of tenderness overwhelming him despite being caught in the thralls of passion. He was a fool to think he could resist this.</p><p>He gripped at Yixing’s hair again, his other hand cupping Yixing’s jaw, feeling himself moving in and out of Yixing’s mouth with each smooth glide of lips over his cock. His stomach tightened with impending release. “I’m going to come, Xing.”</p><p>Yixing hummed in satisfaction, and it was enough to tip him over the edge.</p><p>Two things happened almost simultaneously. He curled forward, orgasm unspooling heat and warmth under his skin as he came down Yixing’s throat with a quiet moan. In the next second, pleasure still shivering through him, new memories slammed into him.</p><p>Confusion took away his afterglow, barely registering Yixing tenderly tucking him back into his pants and standing up to kiss his neck sweetly as he was bombarded with memories of his past self discovering the ancient texts he’d studied so rigorously a year ago.</p><p>“Baek?” Yixing asked, kissing his cheek softly. “Where did you go, baby?”</p><p>“New memories...” he trailed off. His stomach swooping with anxiety as his mind was flooded with several encounters with the clones. First Kāi, and he filed away what his past self had learned about him for future use, and then Sehun.</p><p>Distantly, he was aware of Yixing stroking warm hands along the small of his back and up his sides.</p><p>“Oh no,” he whispered, images of himself with his clone surfacing like a bad dream, tinged with anxiety and pleasure and fear, his clone’s cold treatment toward him after everything making the entire encounter worse.</p><p>At least he’d found solace with Chanyeol afterward, bless his big fiery heart.</p><p>The most disturbing memory wasn’t everything he’d gone through with his clone; he’d been through much worse. No, it was that his clone knew about Yixing—his most closely guarded secret—which meant there was no way his younger self was going to find peace. Baëkhyun was like a dog with a bone even when he <em>didn’t</em> want something. But now his curiosity was piqued, and he would never let it go.</p><p>“Baby, come back to me,” Yixing whispered, nibbling on his ear.</p><p>Baekhyun gasped, arching against Yixing, body a livewire still. “You have my attention.”</p><p>Yixing pulled away, concern in his gaze. “What happened?” He nodded in all the right places as Baekhyun recounted everything he’d learned from his memories, a line appearing between his eyebrows as he got to the part about his clone knowing about Yixing. “You’ve never told your clone about me? Does he even know I exist?”</p><p>“Well, he does now. But no, he didn’t know before he met my past self.” He stroked a hand down Yixing’s back. “I didn’t want him to know. You were so precious to me, I couldn’t let him take that from me too.”</p><p>Yixing kissed him deeply, lips sensuous. He could taste himself on Yixing’s tongue, bringing him sharply back to the present, and to where Yixing was soft against his hip.</p><p>He broke the kiss, hands on Yixing’s neck. “Oh, sweetheart, I’m so sorry. Do you want me to make you feel good?”</p><p>Yixing shook his head, keeping Baekhyun from sinking to his knees. “I already came. Getting you off like that after so long was enough for me,” he added, somewhat sheepish.</p><p>Baekhyun gaped at him, blinking rapidly, before smothering his laugh in another kiss. “I love you.”</p><p>Yixing froze against him, hands tightening against Baekhyun’s waist. “What?”</p><p>He paused, thinking over what he’d just said. “Uh, fuck. Well, it’s not like you didn’t know.”</p><p>A slow smile was spreading over Yixing’s face. “Yeah, but if I knew one blowjob was all it took for you to admit it, I would have tried this a while ago.”</p><p>Baekhyun hid his laugh in Yixing’s throat, letting his teeth dig in gently. “What’s the point in denying it, at this point.”</p><p>Yixing pulled his face away from his neck to keep him from hiding there. “It’s not like I’ve been saying that very thing for the last few weeks, babe. We’re inevitable.”</p><p>Warmth fluttered through him on twitterpated wings. “If only you knew how much,” he whispered, pulling Yixing back in for a kiss. Yixing smoothed his hands through the mussed strands of Baekhyun’s hair as they kissed, the warmth of his power calling out to Baekhyun’s.</p><p>Silver scales shifted in his mind’s eye, the beast stirring at Yixing’s attention, ready to answer. Baekhyun tamped it down, soothing his power back into fitful slumber. To ease the strain, he skimmed water of moonlight off the top of the well, letting a soft glow suffuse his skin.</p><p>Yixing pressed his nose to Baekhyun’s cheek. “My power reaches out for yours, a craving to have you coursing through me.” He caught one of Baekhyun’s hands and laced their fingers together, his thumb tracing the luminous skin of Baekhyun’s wrist. “Why is that?”</p><p>The answer surged to the tip of Baekhyun’s tongue before he caught it; tucked it back behind his teeth. “It’s like you said, we are inevitable.” A partial truth. “Every part of you speaks to every part of me. Two halves of a whole.” It was as truthful as he could bear to be. He wasn’t ready to lose Yixing again. Not when he was just starting to let himself have him again.</p><p>“There’s the romantic I know,” Yixing whispered, kissing at the shell of his ear. “I knew he was still in there somewhere.”</p><p>Baekhyun let himself indulge in Yixing’s soft mouth for another few moments before he pushed away from the tree, spinning around Yixing and tugging at their joined hands as he started to walk a loose perimeter around the house they’d found. “We should actually watch for danger, since that’s what Junmyeon thinks we’re doing.”</p><p>Yixing snorted quietly, leaning close enough that their shoulders brushed with every step. “I think Junmyeon knew exactly what we were going to be doing.”</p><p>“Then let’s exceed his expectations.” He fiddled with the hilt of his rapier with his free hand, belted to his waist, awareness of Yixing fading to the back of his mind as he cast his senses and power out around him, settling into a more watchful and guarded mindset.</p><p>“Have I mentioned how hot you are with that sword?” Yixing whispered, way too close to his ear.</p><p>Baekhyun shoved him into the nearest tree.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0010"><h2>10. Chapter 10</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>He woke up the morning after his encounter with his clone sprawled across Chanyeol’s chest, too warm and sweating where they were pressed together. Chanyeol was dead to the world, lanky limbs taking up the entire bed, one heavy arm looped around Baekhyun’s waist. He tried to slip away, but Chanyeol only squeezed him tighter, making Baekhyun squeak softly as air was pressed from his lungs.</p><p>“Mmmm Soo?” Chanyeol rasped, rolling onto his side and pulling Baekhyun against his chest, nosing at the top of his head and placing a kiss there.</p><p>Baekhyun froze, his heart clenching as Chanyeol’s sleepy hands roamed over his body. <em>Soo.</em> Despite how dried out he felt, he wanted to cry all over again. He hadn’t realized…but then it made sense, he reasoned. Chanyeol and Kyungsoo had always been the closest. If they’d been more, or would become more in the time after he left, it would seem more like fate than anything.</p><p>None of his thinking solved the current predicament however, and Baekhyun worked up the courage to try and move again. “Yeol,” he said softly. “Wake up.”</p><p>Chanyeol scrunched tighter around him, squishing Baekhyun against his chest. “Mmm no, so warm.”</p><p>“Chanyeol,” he said, firmer, scratching his nails down Chanyeol’s back. “Come on, wake up.”</p><p>“Stop, Soo. Tickles.”</p><p>“I’m not Soo,” Baekhyun replied sadly, using the arm pinned between their chests to put a few inches of space between them. Cool air rushed around and between them, making the heat instantly more bearable. Chanyeol shivered and cracked an eye open, both flying wide when he took in Baekhyun.</p><p>“Baek?” The confusion faded from his features the more awake he became, although Baekhyun could spot the quiet hurt in his warm brown eyes. “You had a bad night,” he murmured, explaining Baekhyun’s presence to himself and settling back down, his muscles relaxing.</p><p>“Thank you for letting me sleep with you,” Baekhyun said, patting Chanyeol’s chest lightly. “It really helped.”</p><p>Chanyeol hugged him closer for a moment, then released him. “Anytime. It feels good to have someone to cuddle.”</p><p>He offered Chanyeol a sad smile. “Guess I’m not the only one mourning someone I’ve lost, huh?”</p><p>Chanyeol’s mouth twisted. “We’ve all lost something at this point.”</p><p>“I’ve been pretty ‘woe is me’, haven’t I?”</p><p>“It’s recent for you, fresh.” Chanyeol shrugged as much as he could laying down. “For most of us, our losses are softened now by time. They aren’t as raw.”</p><p>Baekhyun let that sit for a moment, let the words settle into his skin and smooth over his jagged edges. “Thanks, Yeol.”</p><p>Chanyeol gave him a tight smile. “Anytime.”</p><p>He slowly extracted himself from their tangle of limbs, gathering up his clothes as he got up. They were dirty, crusted with things he didn’t want to think about, his stomach feeling itchy beneath his shirt at the memories from last night. He briefly considered putting his pants back on, but it seemed like a waste when he was just going back into his room and straight into a shower.</p><p>Chanyeol had already rolled over, face crammed into a pillow, sheets tangled around his waist and exposing the broad expanse of his shoulders and back to the open air. He was breathing deeply, asleep or close to it, so Baekhyun opened the door and slipped into the hallway as quietly as he could. When he turned around, he nearly ran headlong into Jongdae.</p><p>He took one look at Baekhyun’s state of undress, the door he’d slipped out of, and frowned. “Really, Baek?”</p><p>Baekhyun gaped, unsure where the hostility he heard in Jongdae’s tone was coming from. “It’s not what it looks like.”</p><p>Jongdae’s eyebrows kipped up, expression turning incredulous. “Oh really?” He shook his head. “You know what? I don’t care. Whatever.”</p><p>He was too stunned to say anything as Jongdae shouldered past him and walked away. His need for a shower overpowered the inkling that he should go after Jongdae, desperate to scrub away last night. He hurried to his room, stripping out of what little clothes he still had on as he jumped under a cold spray, too impatient to wait for the water to warm. He was used to cold showers. The luxury they lived in compared to the world he’d come from was still astonishing to him.</p><p>Cleaning himself of all traces of Baëkhyun was only moderately humiliating, flashes of the encounter springing to his mind as he quickly soaped himself down. It would take a while until he felt truly clean, but at least he had a week of peace in which to deal with it.</p><p>Once he’d finished and changed into clean clothes, Baekhyun made his way through the halls to the kitchen, where Sehun was standing at the counter and staring blankly into a cup of stim, his eyes vacant. Baekhyun quietly went about gathering a protein pack and a stim shot of his own, keeping an eye on Sehun as he prepared his breakfast, concerned when he didn’t move, just kept staring.</p><p>Baekhyun placed a hand on his shoulder, attempting to bring Sehun back to himself. He flinched full-bodied at the touch, turning wide eyes on Baekhyun. “I didn’t mean to startle you,” Baekhyun tried, giving Sehun a soft smile.</p><p>Sehun just stared blankly at him. He didn’t seem capable of speaking.</p><p>Baekhyun gripped his wrist lightly, tugging him over to the table pushed against the wall, settling him into a chair that faced the entries of the room. Sehun grimaced when Baekhyun released his wrist, and he tried not to let visible emotion show on his face as he saw the red, raw skin of his wrists. He grabbed Sehun’s cup of stim, placing it in front of him and carefully wrapping his hands around the mug to remind him it was there. He sat with his own food and mug, next to Sehun so he didn’t have to look him in the eye if he didn’t want to.</p><p>“Looks like we both had rough nights,” Baekhyun whispered around his first bite of food, washing down the bland protein with the bitter taste of stim.</p><p>“I’ve had worse,” Sehun said after a long moment, finally taking a small sip from his mug. “Suhø was feeling merciful last night.”</p><p>“Do you want to talk about it?” Baekhyun ventured, eating slowly, more out of necessity than desire. Protein packs gave him everything he needed nutritionally but weren’t that appetizing.</p><p>“Thank you, but no. I’ll talk to Junmyeon, but I don’t want anyone else to experience what I did, even if it’s only secondhand.” He downed half his mug, staring at his hands.</p><p>Baekhyun didn’t try and catch his eye. “I can understand. Is Junmyeon okay?”</p><p>Sehun’s mouth twisted. “He’s going to be bruised for a while, and he’s definitely sore, but he’ll live.”</p><p>They both fell silent as Junmyeon hobbled into the kitchen. Baekhyun bit his tongue to keep a gasp from escaping. Junmyeon had a vivid purple bruise across his cheekbone and a split in his bottom lip, wrists and ankles in worse shape than Sehun’s, walking like too hard of a step would have him shattering apart.</p><p>He looked so small and fragile, his body seconds away from breaking. Sehun finished the rest of his stim and went to Junmyeon, hovering around him like a shield. “I can get my own stim without breaking, Sehun,” Junmyeon said softly, his voice hoarse and scraping enough to make Baekhyun cringe.</p><p>Sehun grumbled softly.</p><p>Junmyeon sat across from Baekhyun with a wince, his movements careful, smiling as Sehun handed him his mug before sitting next to him, protective and watchful. “How was your night?” Junmyeon rasped.</p><p>Baekhyun hid his frown in his mug. “I also spent it with my clone,” he replied, trying not to catalogue all Junmyeon’s visible injuries. He was wearing what must have been one of Sehun’s shirts, the overlong sleeves falling down his arms as he rested his elbows on the table. Baekhyun’s eyes were drawn to the abrasions on his wrists. “I wish Yixing were here,” he whispered.</p><p>“You must miss him terribly,” Junmyeon soothed. “I’m lucky to have Sehun by my side.”</p><p>Baekhyun shook his head. “I mean, yes, but that’s not what I meant. If Yixing were here, he could heal you.”</p><p>Junmyeon’s expression softened, and he reached out to rest a hand on Baekhyun’s forearm. “Thank you, Baekhyun. I’ll be fine in a day or so. I just need to rest.” He gave Baekhyun an unconvincing smile. “Are you okay after your night?”</p><p>“More or less,” Baekhyun answered, quickly finishing the last of his food. Sehun was looking antsy, and he got the feeling they needed to be alone for a while. “Nothing some training and using my powers to blow things up won’t fix.”</p><p>Junmyeon’s chuckle sounded like he was gargling gravel. How much had he screamed? “That always makes me feel better too.”</p><p>“Speaking of which, I think Jongin said he wants to work with me this morning.” He swallowed the last bit of his stim. “I’m going to get going, but I hope you two get plenty of rest today.”</p><p>Junmyeon and Sehun offered him faint smiles, already leaning close and becoming absorbed in one another.</p><p>He had no such plans with Jongin, but he did want to look over the texts his future self had studied, certain there was more for him to learn and discover. He would find Jongin for some sparring when his eyes were tired from reading.</p><p> </p><p>The week passed too quickly at first, Baekhyun absorbed in reading and sparring, learning all he could about their powers and how to use his, what he was capable of. Chanyeol and Jongin were able to tell him what he <em>should</em> be capable of doing, but couldn’t tell him how, which meant he spent long hours inside his mind, trying to understand his power. He was getting stronger, faster, and better, but he still didn’t know how he was supposed to achieve <em>invisibility.</em></p><p>At nights when his body was exhausted, he poured over the books, looking for new connections, striving to understand his powers and place in the universe as much as possible. He was sure there was something he’d missed—both his future self and him—that would help fix everything that was wrong. He searched for a key, or spell…<em>something </em>that would explain how they were supposed to bring balance to the universe. But whenever he thought he’d found a clue the words would blur before his eyes.</p><p>And then the week started to crawl by.</p><p>He left his room one afternoon, convinced if he spent another minute reading through that ancient, complex language he’d go crazy, and sought out Jongdae for a distraction. They hadn’t spoken since their strange interaction outside Chanyeol’s room earlier that week, and he hoped to right whatever was wrong lingered between them and hopefully bounce his chaotic thoughts off him.</p><p>Baekhyun stopped outside Jongdae’s room, knocking quickly before he lost his nerve. He wasn’t sure why apprehension was winding through his ribs. He’d never been afraid to talk to Jongdae before, and yet the feeling only intensified as the door whooshed open, Jongdae quirking a single eyebrow when he saw Baekhyun in the doorway.</p><p>“Yes?”</p><p>“Can I talk to you?”</p><p>Jongdae studied him for a long, hard second. “Come on in,” he said, stepping aside and letting Baekhyun in.</p><p>Baekhyun settled on the bed, tucking his legs up under himself, smiling timidly at Jongdae as he sat next to him. “I feel like our last encounter was weird,” Baekhyun started, “and I wanted to fix it.” </p><p>“There’s nothing to fix. You slept with Chanyeol. It’s fine.” The twist of his mouth suggested it was very much <em>not</em> fine.</p><p>“I had a rough night with my clone and I needed someone big and warm to make me feel safe,” Baekhyun explained, reaching out to grip Jongdae’s arm in his earnestness. “Nothing happened besides sleeping. I don’t want you to feel hurt.”</p><p>Jongdae’s expression remained blank, like he was waiting for something else.</p><p>Baekhyun kept rambling, his nerves demanding he fill the stiff silence between them. “It was a really hard night, and I miss Yixing, and I know I probably should have come to you but I needed to feel small and safe and Chanyeol was who I thought of.”</p><p>“You’re so selfish!” Jongdae exploded to his feet, pacing across the room.</p><p>He bristled at the outburst. “Excuse me?” Jongdae’s reaction was bigger than he expected, out of proportion in his opinion, and he started to think this was about something else entirely. “I’m not trying to be.”</p><p>“Do you even think before you open your mouth? Or do you just spew whatever you’re thinking in the moment?” Jongdae paced in front of him, clearly agitated.</p><p>“Where is this coming from?” Baekhyun asked, Jongdae’s words cutting deeper than he’d expected them to.</p><p>“You’re not the only one that lost someone!” Jongdae shouted. “You don’t get a monopoly on feeling sad because your boyfriend died!” He crossed his arms, defensive, his eyes watery. “Chanyeol and I lost Kyungsoo, and we never recovered.”</p><p>“I—”</p><p>“Yes, you lost the love of your life, and that sucks,” Jongdae went on, not giving Baekhyun a chance to speak. “But I lost <em>both </em>of mine, one suddenly and the other slowly over months, and that hurts too.”</p><p>Baekhyun stood and rushed to Jongdae, hugging him tightly. Jongdae was stiff at first, but as Baekhyun clung he gradually relaxed, hugging him back. “I’m so sorry, Dae,” Baekhyun whispered into his neck. “I had no idea.”</p><p>It occurred to him, as Jongdae started to shudder in his arms, that all of them were struggling under invisible burdens, their secrets no less painful for being unspoken. He held Jongdae as he cried, tears of sympathy springing to his own eyes at his best friend’s suffering. He’d had no idea Chanyeol, Kyungsoo and Jongdae had been a thing. It must have happened sometime after he’d been swapped. No doubt his future self knew or was watching it happen now.</p><p>It was frustrating to know if he got back to the right time—<em>when</em> he did—he’d have no idea what had transpired. It would be as jarring as it had been to jump forward along the timeline but for completely different reasons. He was missing so much more than just Yixing.</p><p>Eventually Jongdae pulled away, wiping at his eyes. “I’m sorry for coming undone on you.” His eyes were red-rimmed and watery, so beautifully sad.</p><p>“It’s okay,” Baekhyun soothed, running a hand through Jongdae’s ebony curls. “What are friends for, if not to melt down on each other?”</p><p>It coaxed a raspy chuckle out of Jongdae. “For the record, you’re not that selfish. No more than anyone else.”</p><p>Baekhyun smiled wryly. “Thanks, Dae.” He reached for Jongdae’s hand, lacing their fingers. “Will you spar with me tomorrow?”</p><p>Jongdae nodded, squeezing his fingers. “Sure. I’d like that.”</p><p>“Okay. I’ll come find you after breakfast,” Baekhyun promised, making for the door.</p><p>“Hey, Baek?”</p><p>He turned back to see Jongdae smiling warmly at him. “Thank you.”</p><p>“Anytime, Dae.”</p><p> </p><p>With everything settled and back in order, Baekhyun returned to what had become his normal routine, nothing to distract him from the gaping loneliness. No amount of training or reading was enough to distract him from his need for Yixing. It felt like every cell in his body was crying out for him, a craving he couldn’t shake, couldn’t feed with anything else.</p><p>He missed Yixing, more and more with every passing minute. The rest of the week passed in a melancholic blur.</p><p>Jongdae had been right to call him selfish. Each of them had lost someone or something precious. They were all broken in different ways. And yet he couldn’t pull himself out of his yearning for Yixing long enough to appreciate the struggles everyone else was facing.</p><p>Maybe it made him awful, for not caring, but Yixing was the only bright spot in this world. He couldn’t remember life before Yixing. They’d grown up together, become revolutionaries together, found their team together. To be facing any reality where Yixing wasn’t right by his side was crippling.</p><p>He was laying on his bed, staring at the ceiling, when his clone found him. Baëkhyun walked through the door for once, instead of appearing with Kāi from thin air. He turned his head, blinking slowly and staring at Baëkhyun as he came closer until he was standing by Baekhyun’s bed, watching him.</p><p>They didn’t speak, just watched each other, and Baekhyun looked into those predatory eyes and wondered if they were really so different. Baëkhyun was cold, untouchable, burning as bright as a star. Everything about him reflected it, from his silvery hair to his cerulean eyes, the sparkle of the chain over his nose, the white of the feather hanging behind his right ear like the tail of a dying star. Baëkhyun was his opposite in nearly every possible way.</p><p>Baekhyun stared at himself, the mirror image of Baëkhyun, and asked, “What’s it like, knowing you’ll never live up to your original? That you have to kill me to fulfill your purpose in life?”</p><p>“Empty.”</p><p>He didn’t say anything else, just watched Baekhyun with those cold, empty blue eyes, gaze steady. In the silence, Baekhyun found companionship, someone who understands the void inside. “That’s how I feel, without Yixing. How I’ll always feel.”</p><p>“I understand,” Baëkhyun replied, surprising Baekhyun with his frankness. “I am you.”</p><p>Baekhyun had once found a piece of obsidian. Small, black, and slightly translucent in the right light. It was beautiful, in a sharp, cold way. Kyungsoo had told him that if he broke the little oval stone, the pieces left were sure to be sharper than razors. He’d always felt like that stone; warm only in Yixing’s hands, a weapon in the wrong ones, dark and graceful on the outside but holding hidden depths of deadliness. His clone was the same, except the Red Force had taken a hammer to him, and only a man made of scalpel sharp pieces had emerged.</p><p>“Maybe you are.”</p><p>He sat up slowly, rising to his feet. Baëkhyun didn’t move away, putting them toe to toe when he stood, unflinching in his proximity. Baekhyun searched those eyes for any feeling, but Baëkhyun was a lesson in layers, giving nothing away. Something awful surged within Baekhyun, a desire to crack through that shell until he knew all those sharp pieces and exactly how they cut.</p><p>And maybe, just a little, he wanted to be with someone who knew what it was like to feel so empty but be compelled to keep on going.</p><p>Baekhyun swayed forward, kissing his clone lightly. Baëkhyun quirked an eyebrow as he pulled away. “You’ll have to try harder to get a reaction from me, puppy.”</p><p>“I just wonder if you’ve ever been treated gently, by anyone,” Baekhyun murmured, cupping Baëkhyun’s jaw gently and kissing him slowly, like he used to kiss Yixing when they had nothing but time and lazy mornings in bed. Before the Red Force, before they’d been thrown into a war they barely understood.</p><p>Baëkhyun was slow to respond, like he was waiting for Baekhyun to pick up the pace, turn the kiss into something harsher, more desperate, like their last exchange. But Baekhyun wanted to see if his clone would melt in the same way this treatment from Yixing always turned him into mush. He kept the kiss gentle and teasing, sucking at Baëkhyun’s bottom lip until he started to respond, lips sliding with Baekhyun’s.</p><p>His hands came up to grip at Baekhyun’s hips, fingers digging in as he pulled Baekhyun flush to him. But Baekhyun continued with the unhurried pace of their kiss, not letting Baëkhyun take control and push for something frantic. Eventually, Baëkhyun started to relax, his shoulders falling, grip easing on Baekhyun’s hips. Only then, when Baëkhyun was loose, did Baekhyun lick into his mouth, tongue curling behind his teeth.</p><p>Baëkhyun sighed, the tiniest exhalation from his nose, and tilted his head for a better angle. Baekhyun tamped down the triumph, sure that any outward expression would shatter the careful atmosphere between them that was letting Baëkhyun relax. It was satisfying to feel Baëkhyun become more pliant under his hands, a careful smoothing of edges. He slipped one hand around Baëkhyun’s waist, slowly pressing closer as he deepened the kiss, tongues sliding together languidly.</p><p>Baëkhyun’s hands wandered up his sides and around his waist, fingers raking down his back in a long drag that had Baekhyun moaning into Baëkhyun’s mouth and nipping at his lower lip when he pulled away. He spun them around, pushing Baëkhyun back onto the bed and crawling over him. He licked at Baëkhyun’s jaw, letting his teeth scrape along the hinge where his skin was thinnest. Baekhyun pulled away just in time to watch Baëkhyun’s white eyelashes flutter at the sensation. He waited until those frozen eyes looked up at him to swoop back in, balancing on one forearm and lifting the other to grip Baëkhyun’s jaw.</p><p>He exhaled sharply as Baëkhyun’s hands grabbed at his ass, pulling him down and grinding up against him, using Baekhyun’s surprise to his advantage as he took control of the kiss. His teeth scraped along the inside of Baekhyun’s lower lip, dragging hard enough to sting, making him hiss.</p><p>“You’ll put me to sleep, kissing me like that,” Baëkhyun said, grinning against Baekhyun’s lips.</p><p>Baekhyun could taste the lie as it spilled from his mouth. He knew how he reacted when he was enjoying something, and while his clone was undoubtedly different, his tells were the same. Still, Baekhyun let him have control, figuring there would be time in the future to unravel Baëkhyun. He didn’t seem to be going anywhere anytime soon.</p><p>Baëkhyun flipped them, caging Baekhyun under him and making him feel small despite the fact they were the same size exactly. Like their last encounter, Baëkhyun was not shy about manhandling Baekhyun how he wanted him, but unlike a week ago, he didn’t push for anything, merely kissed him deeply, like doing so would unlock some sort of secret.</p><p>He gasped as Baëkhyun gripped at his hair, tugging his head back to expose his neck, leaving bruising kisses down the column of his throat. Baekhyun yelped when Baëkhyun’s kisses turned to bites, jumping in surprise when his teeth sunk into the muscle where his shoulder and neck met, reflexively pushing Baëkhyun off and away.</p><p>Baëkhyun’s breath rushed out of his lungs audibly as he rolled off Baekhyun and onto the floor, blinking up at the ceiling in surprise. Baekhyun felt a momentary flash of chagrin before he followed Baëkhyun to the floor, pressing him into the cold cement and taking control of the kiss before he could recover.</p><p>“Sneaky little puppy,” Baëkhyun growled, nipping at Baekhyun’s lower lip. Baekhyun didn’t have control for long. Baëkhyun had their positions reversed soon enough, the ends of his chain tickling Baekhyun’s cheeks as they kissed.</p><p>“Do you always wear this?” he asked, grabbing Baëkhyun’s face and holding him away so he could study his features, ignoring how eerie it was to look into a physical mirror and studying the delicate silver chain across the bridge of Baëkhyun’s nose. There was a faint line of pink under it, now that he was looking closely.</p><p>“Always,” Baëkhyun replied, lips slightly squished by Baekhyun’s grip on his jaw.</p><p>Without warning, Baekhyun reached up and snatched the chain away. Baëkhyun hissed in surprise, flinching away, but Baekhyun didn’t let him get very far away, keeping him in place with the grip on his face. There was a thin, barely there scar. A pink line slashed across the bridge of his nose and across both cheeks.</p><p>“What happened?” he asked, tracing the scar with gentle fingers, Baëkhyun’s eyes going hazy and unfocused, mouth hanging slack.</p><p>“Your sword. You cut me, remember?”</p><p>“I haven’t done it yet, for me,” Baekhyun murmured, forgetting for a moment that Baëkhyun wasn’t supposed to know why he was different, exactly. “I’m sorry,” he said louder, pulling Baëkhyun’s face down to kiss along the scar, lips as soft as butterfly wings, tenderness in every motion.</p><p>Baëkhyun pulled away sharply, staring down at Baekhyun with wide, terrified eyes.</p><p>“Baëkhyun?”</p><p>But Baëkhyun was backing away, scrambling off him and fiddling with his wrist, Kāi appearing a moment later and whisking Baëkhyun away in the space of a few heartbeats.</p><p>Baekhyun stared at the spot Baëkhyun had been and wondered exactly what he’d done to spook Baëkhyun like that.</p><p>*</p><p>“Minseok, our left flank!” Baekhyun shouted, seeing Minseok whirl around a cement block and release a spray of icicles at the group of Red Force soldiers trying to flank them.</p><p>They’d been in the process of moving between safehouses when a Red Force patrol had ambushed them, pinning them down in the middle of an abandoned intersection, the nine of them scrambling for cover in the urban destruction that was the outskirts of the city. Kyungsoo had forced several blocks of pavement up for them to duck behind, and they’d been holding off the soldiers for the last few minutes, trying to kill them before they could summon more reinforcements.</p><p>It was sooner than it should have been. In his memories they hadn’t had this fight for two more months, but here they were, pinned down under all but artillery fire. He peeked around his cover, trying to get a count of how many they were up against.</p><p>There was a group of four in a tight diamond formation approaching them head on, riot shields raised to deflect their attacks. Chanyeol was doing his best from his position to Baekhyun’s right to lay down a wall of fire, but they continued to advance.</p><p>“Yeol!” Jongdae shouted from behind Baekhyun. He looked over his shoulder in time to see Jongdae sprinting for Chanyeol, who braced his back against the block of pavement he was hiding behind and cupped his hands. Jongdae hurtled for him—not checking his speed, lightning beginning to crackle around his body—and stepped into Chanyeol’s hands, jumping as Chanyeol launched him into the air, hoisting him over his head.</p><p>Kyungsoo, on the other side of Chanyeol, raised a hand, following Jongdae’s movements and suspending him in midair as a lightning bolt formed in Jongdae’s hands. With a war cry, Jongdae hurled his spear of lightning into the group of four soldiers, heedless of the other soldiers taking aim with guns at his hovering body.</p><p>Sehun appeared at Baekhyun’s left, pushing a shield of compressed air past all of them to encase Jongdae just in time to deflect the bullets aimed for his head.</p><p>“Kyungsoo, get him behind cover!” Baekhyun ordered, breath coming easier as Kyungsoo complied and Jongdae returned to solid ground behind a cement pillar.</p><p>He took a beat to assess, watching Jongin flit to the Red Force’s back line with Junmyeon and drown a man on dry land before jumping back behind their own lines.</p><p>They needed to get out of the open before more reinforcements arrived and they were truly pinned down. He wracked his memory, trying to remember the next hideout they’d found while Minseok and Chanyeol laid down a heavy barrage of ice and fire.</p><p>“Baek, what should we do?” Yixing muttered. “We’re quickly going to become target practice if we’re not careful.”</p><p>“We already <em>are</em> target practice,” Kyungsoo grumbled, focusing on one soldier and crushing him into the ground under what Baekhyun assumed was immense gravitational force.</p><p>“Chanyeol,” he ordered, “take them out.” He looked behind him, spotting Minseok’s eyes peeking over the barrier. “You too Minseok, no mercy.”</p><p>They moved seamlessly as a unit, Chanyeol sending the soldiers scattering under a sudden barrage of fire right into Minseok’s icicles. Sehun covered their advance, sweeping bullets away before they could get close to either of them.</p><p>They all took a moment to breathe, to realize how close they’d come to being taken in.</p><p>“Come on,” Baekhyun said, once they’d all collected themselves. “I know of a place.”</p><p> </p><p>“This is your place?” Junmyeon asked, voice full of doubt.</p><p>They were all stood before a house more ramshackle than the last they’d been in, shutters hanging from windows by one rusty hinge, the roof of the upper floor caved in slightly, and most of the glass missing entirely from the windows.</p><p>The front yard was littered with detritus; old bathtubs overturned, stacks of tires, mattresses propped up against rusty file cabinets, even an old, rusted out car on cinder blocks.</p><p>“It’s better on the inside,” Baekhyun said, grinning slightly. Having future knowledge was truly the best thing. He was sure that bringing them here a full three months early would only further accelerate the timeline, but they would manage. They had so far.</p><p>“Are you sure about this?” Yixing whispered as they approached the dangerously termite infested front steps.</p><p>Baekhyun weighed each step before proceeding, not keen on splinters, and nodded. “We’re early, but we’ll be safe here for a long while.” He reached the front door—missing panels and barely hanging in its frame—and found the doorbell, pressing it once.</p><p>“Like that’s going to do anything,” Sehun muttered, peering over Baekhyun’s shoulder. “The last thing that’s going to work is the doorbell.”</p><p>“That’s not why I pressed it,” Baekhyun replied, waiting one more moment before opening the door with a loud creak and walking inside, footsteps light on the rotting wood floor as he led his team through the house. “Careful where you step, now.”</p><p>The kitchen was at the back of the house, a pantry tucked in the furthest corner from the door. He walked to it quickly, crouching down and feeling along the dirty molding at the base of the wall. Right next to the door frame was a small switch.</p><p>Jongdae swore as the floor of the pantry receded with a quiet hiss, revealing a set of sturdy metal stairs descending into inky blackness. Baekhyun summoned an orb of light and sent it floating down the steps, illuminating the bottom where another door was, heavy and metal and imposing.</p><p>“That’s it, Baekhyun is the evil clone and he’s finally going to kill us,” Chanyeol exclaimed, earning a smack from Kyungsoo at being so loud.</p><p>“Just follow me,” Baekhyun said, weary, and quickly made his way down. He heard the cautious footsteps of the rest of the team, and Yixing’s hand squeezing his briefly. With a shaky inhale, Baekhyun pressed his hand to the center of the door, hearing the soft beep of his biometrics being accepted, and then the door swung open on noiseless hinges.</p><p>A man stood on the other side, daggers raised to Baekhyun’s throat, his eyes narrowed in suspicion behind his midnight fringe of hair.</p><p>“Who are you, and how the <em>hell </em>did you get into my bunker?”</p><p>“Easy, guys,” Baekhyun cautioned, feeling the energy of his team’s powers rising at his back. “Taemin is a friend.”</p><p>“Like hell I am!” Taemin exclaimed. “I’ve never met you before!”</p><p>“You haven’t met me <em>yet,” </em>Baekhyun corrected, making Taemin go momentarily cross-eyed. “We weren’t supposed to meet for another six months, but it’s an emergency and Kibum said I could come to you if I was in danger.”</p><p>Taemin’s knives dropped an inch. “You know Kibum?”</p><p>“I know your whole team. It was Jonghyun who programmed my biometrics into your defenses, retroactively too, at my request. Seemed silly at the time but I’m glad for it now.”</p><p>“What the fuck?” Taemin’s eyes were wide. “There’s no way that’s possible.”</p><p>“Yeah, what he said?” Jongdae echoed. “Baekhyun what the hell?”</p><p>Baekhyun frowned at Taemin. “You didn’t know Jonghyun was a time walker?”</p><p>Taemin rocked back on his heels, physically reeling. “No?”</p><p>“Oh, well, you’ll have something to talk about next time you meet,” Baekhyun replied, pushing the door open further. “Now, let us in?”</p><p>Taemin reluctantly stepped aside, and they filed in. While the house was a dilapidated mess, beyond the door was an entirely different story. A short hallway of concrete opened into a large main room with scattered sofas and chair of various quality filling the space, while the far wall to Baekhyun’s left was taken up by a large bank of monitors, displaying camera feeds of the house and grounds, as well as key points in the city. Taemin rushed to the console, blanking the screens before they could get too much of a look, while Baekhyun’s team took everything in with slack-jawed wonder.</p><p>It looked mostly the same as Baekhyun remembered, although some of the furnishings seemed newer.</p><p>“Why are you here?” Taemin demanded, knives still in hand. “And why should I trust you’re not working for the Red Force?”</p><p>“The fact that I have access to the bunker wasn’t proof enough?” Baekhyun fought not to let his eyebrows raise.</p><p>Taemin grumbled under his breath before sheathing his knives somewhere in the many straps around his leather-clad hips and thighs with a fancy flourish. “I still reserve the right to stab you at any moment.”</p><p>Baekhyun offered a conciliatory nod before turning to the others. “Take a seat guys, we’ll be safe here for a long time.”</p><p>“You’re staying?!” Taemin’s hands twitched for his knives.</p><p>“It’s not like you don’t have the room. Just let us use the back room and a few of the bedrooms on the deeper level. You won’t even know we’re here.”</p><p>“I find that hard to believe.”</p><p>“Who are you?” Yixing asked, something like wonder in his tone.</p><p>Taemin turned to him. “Someone trying to bring down the Red Force. Who are <em>you?”</em></p><p>“We’re who they’re hunting,” Baekhyun answered, motioning for everyone to back down. Sehun collapsed onto the nearest sofa, drawing a scowl from Taemin. “And we’re going to destroy them before they can get us.”</p><p>“We are?” Chanyeol questioned.</p><p>“How are we supposed to do that?” Junmyeon added, coming around to stand between Baekhyun and Taemin like a mediator, clearly sensing how on edge Taemin still was. “We’re not exactly in a position to be giving anyone a fight right now.”</p><p>“Why do you think I’ve spent the last month training everyone?” Baekhyun turned to address them all. “There’s a way we win, but we can only do it together. In order for that to happen I had to make sure we didn’t lose Yixing, Kyungsoo and Minseok like we did the first time I tried to save the world. Because I’m here and things are happening out of order, it also means that the Red Force is closer on our heels, and it’s becoming more dangerous at a quicker rate.”</p><p>“So what does that mean for us?” Minseok asked, gesturing between himself and Kyungsoo. “Do we get taken earlier?”</p><p>“Not if I can help it,” Jongdae growled, clutching at Kyungsoo’s shirt, Chanyeol standing imposingly behind them both with his arms crossed.</p><p>“I didn’t know about Taemin and his team, or their bunker, the first time around. This will give us an advantage as we finish honing your abilities, and somewhere safe to plan.”</p><p>“If this…Jonghyun?” Jongin piped up from the sofa next to Sehun. “If he’s a time walker—whatever that means—could he swap you and our Baekhyun back?”</p><p>Baekhyun considered. “I don’t think so. He’s never mentioned being able to take people with him, and even if he could, we’d have to get him here first. Taemin?”</p><p>Taemin pursed his lips, but finally said, “I haven’t heard from him in months. It’s likely he won’t check in for a few more. He’s a bit of a free spirit.”</p><p>“Something to keep in contingency, if he appears sooner than we think,” Baekhyun amended. “Good thought, Jongin.”</p><p>Jongin flushed with the praise. Taemin’s gaze honed on him, lips curling into a smirk.</p><p>“Alright everyone, follow me,” Baekhyun said, moving for the dark hallway at the back of the room. “Let’s get into some rooms and leave Taemin to his brooding.”</p><p>Taemin hissed at his retreating form, and a knife appeared with a <em>thwack</em> in the wood of the doorframe next to Baekhyun’s head. “Don’t get too comfortable,” Taemin warned, a slow smile slinking across his features.</p><p>“You’re sure we can trust him?” Junmyeon whispered as they disappeared around the corner of the hallway. “He seems a little…volatile.”</p><p>“Taemin may be a little crazy, but he’s loyal and protective. We’ll be fine, he just needs to warm up to us.” Baekhyun looked over his shoulder. “Jongin, why don’t you try and befriend him. You’re sweet and generally unassuming.”</p><p>Jongin made a noise of protest.</p><p>“Just how big is this place?” Kyungsoo marveled, as the hallway dipped down, Baekhyun’s orbs of light showing the way.</p><p>“Deceptively so. Jinki masterminded it, back before the Red Force really took hold of the world. His paranoia paid off in the end, to the benefit of his close friends and us, now.” Baekhyun pointed down a side hallway. “There are three rooms down there, two more down the hallway to my right. Some of us will have to share—”</p><p>“Kyungsoo and Jongdae can share with me,” Chanyeol supplied. “If you and Xing share, the others can have their own rooms.”</p><p>Baekhyun fought a smile. Those three, huh? “Sure, I don’t care. You can work it out between yourselves,” he replied, grabbing Yixing’s hand and tugging him into the nearest room.</p><p>Everything about the lower levels was spare, built for economy rather than comfort, but the metal door was heavy and solid, and the bed looked big enough for two, so Baekhyun didn’t care much beyond that. All he cared about was learning the taste of Yixing’s mouth.</p><p>Yixing grunted as Baekhyun shoved him against the closed door, chasing the sound with his tongue, Yixing’s lips plush and warm against his own. He wound his arms around Yixing’s waist, holding him close, letting the kiss lose some urgency in favor of becoming something soft and lingering, but no less needy.</p><p>Capable hands cupped his jaw, tilted his head back so Yixing could suck kisses down the line of Baekhyun’s neck, thumbs stroking along the cut of his jaw, fingers sliding into Baekhyun’s hair. He pulled away, panting lightly.</p><p>“Not that I don’t welcome this, but there are things I need to talk to you about,” Yixing started, his grip turning unyielding when Baekhyun tried to move back in for a kiss. “No, not this time baby. Stop distracting me with sex and kisses.”</p><p>Baekhyun pushed his lips into a pout. “But I like having sex and kissing you.”</p><p>“Same, but I need to talk to you first. And then I’ll fuck you so hard you don’t remember anything other than my name.”</p><p>Arousal made Baekhyun’s knees go weak. “Well, if that’s on the table. Fire away.”</p><p>Yixing released his hold on Baekhyun, taking his hand and moving to sit on the bed, facing Baekhyun as he sat next to Yixing. “I need you to level with me about why my power sings when we touch.”</p><p>Baekhyun sent a few orbs of light up to illuminate the room and then sighed, gathering himself. “If I tell you the truth, you can’t tell any of the others. If they knew, they’d never go along with the plan.”</p><p>He visibly mulled that over for a moment. Eventually, he replied, “Tell me enough that I won’t be walking in blind. I don’t need to know everything—I trust you—but you can’t keep me in the dark when I can see how it’s starting to tax you to do so.”</p><p>“I can do that,” Baekhyun agreed, taking Yixing’s hand. His power responded immediately, sending tendrils reaching for Yixing. “The two of us are…bound together,” he began, the words coming slow as he figured out how to tell the story. “We hold the power to right an upset balance in the universe, but we can only do it together. If one of us dies, the chance to put an end to the Red Force dies with us.”</p><p>Yixing quirked an eyebrow.</p><p>“The short of it is that we’re destined to save the universe,” Baekhyun continued, when Yixing didn’t say anything. “Crazy, I know. But that’s what I’ve learned in the years after you died. That’s why your power calls to mine. We have to be together in order to destroy the Red Force.”</p><p>“But how?” Yixing finally asked. “How are we supposed to destroy them? All I can do is heal, and you have the power of light. We might have a lot of power, but it seems like there are better abilities suited to killing.”</p><p>Baekhyun frowned. “I don’t think we’ll have to kill, actually. I think we’ll have to apply the power somewhere else. There’s this whole like, prophecy involving a tree, and it’s basically our job to protect it and restore balance to the universe, but the Red Force has taken control of the tree. We’ll need to break past their defenses and get to that tree. I suspect it will take our power to get past whatever they’re using to keep the life force of the universe contained.”</p><p>Yixing’s mouth was gaping slightly. Baekhyun gently took two fingers and closed his jaw for him. “What the hell?”</p><p>“There’s a lot more, but those are the important bits.”</p><p>“I’m going to need the full story at some point,” Yixing finally said, expression serious. “I don’t want you to keep me in the dark.”</p><p>Guilt raked sharp claws through his abdomen. “Sure, baby. I can tell you everything.” He yawned, the strain of the day hitting him all at once. “But not tonight. Let’s go to bed?”</p><p>Yixing pressed a kiss to his cheek before standing and moving to the plastic bin in one corner of the room. “We’ll need to have Jongin steal some more clothes for us. We keep losing things as we move from place to place.”</p><p>Baekhyun flopped back onto the bed. “Well, luckily we don’t need clothes to sleep.”</p><p>“Is that so?” Yixing crawled over him. “Are you too tired to continue what you started earlier?”</p><p>His eyes lingered on Yixing’s lips as he spoke. “Never,” Baekhyun whispered, reaching up to pull Yixing in for a kiss, happy to surrender to the distraction of Yixing’s body against his.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0011"><h2>11. Chapter 11</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Since Baekhyun’s only options were to pine after Yixing or puzzle over Baëkhyun’s abrupt exit the other day he elected to do neither, and instead dove into the books stacked in the corner of his room once he’d exhausted himself enough to focus by sparring with Jongdae.</p><p>It was something, at least, to focus on instead of how incredibly messed up his life had become. Not that it was all that inspiring before the universe had decided to ruin his day, but if <em>this</em> was the future he had to look forward to, anything he could learn to change that was welcome.</p><p>But as he worked to translate more of the text underneath the sigils that represented their individual powers, he began to understand how truly powerful they actually were.</p><p>He wondered if Jongdae knew he could create entire storms of rain, thunder and lightning, the power of the heavens his to command. Or if Kyungsoo had known exactly how incredibly powerful he was, that his control extended beyond the physical. Of his own power, he learned he was able to bend and refract light around objects, implying he could render himself and others invisible, and he made a mental note to work on that next time he was practicing with Jongdae.</p><p>Sehun could create entire windstorms, even tornados with enough room, while Junmyeon could pull water from anywhere, and possibly even control people’s bodies by moving the water in them.  If they chose to work together, they could create hurricanes of power unlike anything Baekhyun could comprehend.</p><p>And the three they’d lost…godlike power over time, ability to fly and shift forms, and telekinesis. All twelve of them together would have been truly formidable. It was a miracle the rest of them had found each other. He’d always felt like the nine of them had been drawn together, back in the beginning when more of the population had been fighting the Red Force’s coup. They’d stumbled upon one another like fate and never strayed.</p><p>But as long as he could remember, Yixing was always at his side.</p><p>“Baekhyun?”</p><p>He looked away from the books to Junmyeon who was standing in his doorway. Junmyeon had healed quite a bit since his encounter with Suhø, but there was still fading bruising visible, and he walked gingerly.</p><p>“Yeah?”</p><p>“You look deep in thought. Learning a lot?”</p><p>Baekhyun motioned for him to come in, making room for him on the bed. “Do you know what’s in here? What these books say?”</p><p>Junmyeon shook his head. “Baekhyun—ours, that is—said it was about the origin of our powers. But he never went into much detail.”</p><p>Strange. There must have been a reason why he hadn’t shared the information. “Do you remember how we all met?”</p><p>“You mean, in the beginning?” Junmyeon tilted his head, pouting slightly. It was painfully adorable, despite the sickly yellow and green across his skin. “It’s been so long, but it was during the fervor of the coup, right? I remember all of us sort of just, coming together and never separating.”</p><p>“We’ve been by each other’s sides ever since,” Baekhyun agreed. “Like we were meant to be together.”</p><p>“Still missing Yixing?” Junmyeon asked, perhaps picking up on the wistful tone in Baekhyun’s voice.  </p><p>“Be grateful that you’ve never known the pain of turning to tell Sehun something only to realize he’s no longer where he belongs, at your side,” Baekhyun whispered, watching Junmyeon blink solemnly back at him. “I’ve never known a life without him, and now that I do, I find I don’t much care for it.”</p><p>Junmyeon squeezed his hand. “I hope you find a way to save him, in the past. Our team is hobbled without him, Kyungsoo and Minseok. We need them.”</p><p>They needed all <em>twelve,</em> but nine would have to do.</p><p>“Me too.” He looked down at the books, his eyes mindlessly reading over what he’d translated about Jongin’s power when the words sank in. “Holy shit.”</p><p>“What?”</p><p>Baekhyun looked up at Junmyeon with wide eyes. “I think there’s a way for me to get back quicker than the next eclipse.”</p><p>Junmyeon stood, almost managing to hide a wince. “What are you waiting for! What is it?”</p><p>“I need to find Jongin.”</p><p> </p><p>“I can do <em>what</em> now?”</p><p>Baekhyun sighed impatiently and gestured to the book. “It says here that your ability to move from one place to another is not limited by <em>time or space.” </em>He looked between Junmyeon and Jongin, the latter of whom seemed hopelessly lost. “It means that you can take me back, Jongin. You can <em>move through time.”</em></p><p>Jongin gaped soundlessly for a moment. “I wouldn’t even know where to start,” he finally admitted. They were in his room where they’d found him, and he sat on the bed looking stupefied. “I’ve never tried anything resembling that.”</p><p>Baekhyun’s heart sank. That’s exactly what he’d been afraid of. “Is there anyone who might know?” he asked, somewhat desperately, knowing the answer was likely no.</p><p>He shook his head, then seemed to pause. “Actually…”</p><p>“What?” Junmyeon asked, now equally invested with Baekhyun. “What is it?”</p><p>Jongin looked quickly around his room, then stood. “We’ll need more space. Let’s go to the sparring room.”</p><p>They followed him from the room, Junmyeon keeping pace with Baekhyun behind Jongin as they walked through the halls. Between one step and the next, Kāi appeared next to Jongin, matching pace seamlessly. Jongin whispered something softly to his clone, who looked warily behind at Baekhyun and Junmyeon, before nodding once and vanishing again.</p><p>The sparring room was brightly lit and octagonal in shape, with entries leading from the kitchen, great room area, and main hallway. Many of the concrete walls had singe marks from Jongdae’s and Chanyeol’s powers. It was currently empty, although Baekhyun suspected that the more they talked the faster it would draw the rest of them.</p><p>They tended to gravitate toward one another, even with three of their team dead or missing.</p><p>“Jongin, why are we here?” Junmyeon asked, looking around the room. “Is there something specific about this room?”</p><p>“It’s just bigger than my room, and we’re about to have an influx of guests.”</p><p>Baekhyun and Junmyeon both looked at him sharply. “What do you mean?” Baekhyun asked.</p><p>“Mentioning time travel reminded me of something Kāi once said, and it got me thinking. But in order to confirm, he needs to bring one of our uh…friends, here.”</p><p>Junmyeon arched an eyebrow. “Friend?”</p><p>Baekhyun, too, was curious.</p><p>Jongin shifted his weight. “You’ll see. He’ll be here in a moment.”</p><p>Sure enough, not even a minute later Kāi reappeared in the room with someone else in tow. Said person immediately launched themselves at Jongin, pulling him down for a deep, indecent kiss.</p><p>“Nini, it’s been too long,” the stranger said, once he’d come up for air. Jongin was looking suitably punch drunk. “I all but attacked Kāi when he came, although he didn’t let me get far before telling me you needed me. What’ll it be, baby? Want me to tie you up and make you cry?”</p><p>Baekhyun felt it was a very good moment to clear his throat loudly. Jongin flushed to the roots of his bright teal hair, while Kāi flicked a rather unamused glance at Baekhyun and Junmyeon, like <em>they </em>were the intruders here.</p><p>The stranger spun around, knives appearing in his hands, and a dark gaze fell on Baekhyun. His eyes widened. “You!” he exclaimed, looking at Baekhyun.</p><p>“Me?” Baekhyun questioned, looking behind himself in case the stranger had spotted someone behind him he recognized. No such luck. Baekhyun took in more details, wondering if he’d met this person in passing and not recognized him. His hair was silver, a harsh undercut giving way to feathery locks styled up and away from his face. His right eyebrow had two slits in it, giving him a dangerous, somewhat feral look. Or maybe that was the knives.</p><p>“You know Baekhyun?” Junmyeon asked, pointing to Baekhyun.</p><p>The stranger looked between the two of them, slowly lowering his knives. “Yes. I met him years ago, although his hair was white then. It’s when I met all of you, actually.”</p><p>“I’ve never met…” Junmyeon trailed off, a strange expression taking over his face, then, “Taemin?”</p><p>Baekhyun looked between all of them. “What is happening right now?”</p><p>“I…remember meeting you?” Junmyeon said, his head tilting, face furrowing in confusion. “But I didn’t remember until you said something, and it was like all these memories I’d never had before came flooding back.” He spun to face Baekhyun. “You <em>were</em> there, but with white hair, like my Baekhyun.”</p><p>Baekhyun looked at Junmyeon in confusion. “How?”</p><p>Kāi walked over to Taemin, pouting and tugging at his arm.</p><p>Taemin cozied up to his side, letting Kāi loop an arm over his shoulders. “It’s where I met Jongin for the first time, although he didn’t seem to remember that when we reconnected a year later. But I doubt reminiscing about how we all met is why I’m here instead of having an incredible threesome right now.”</p><p>Kāi’s expression turned rather smug.</p><p>“I’m not sure why you’re here either,” Baekhyun admitted. “Jongin?”</p><p>Jongin shook himself out of a daze. “Right. Uh. Oh! Time travel.” He turned to Kāi. “Remember how you once told me Taemin had a friend who could walk through time?”</p><p>Kāi nodded once, his expression blank.</p><p>“Jonghyun?” Taemin asked, looking between Jongin and Kāi. “Baekhyun was the one who originally told me he was a time walker.”</p><p>“But I’ve never met him!” Baekhyun exclaimed, his head beginning to hurt.</p><p>“Yes, you have,” Taemin insisted. “You met him last year. He told me.” He paused for a second. “Of course, when I met you three years ago you already knew that despite never having met him, so I’m not totally sure what’s going on here.”</p><p>“This Baekhyun is from three years ago, while our Baekhyun got swapped to the past,” Junmyeon explained. “I’d guess that’s why this one doesn’t recognize you.”</p><p>Taemin’s eyes rolled back in his head as he tried to process that statement, while Jongin went to lean against Kāi’s other side. “I think that’s what Kāi was trying to tell me all along about Baekhyun,” Jongin supplied. He and Kāi both turned their eyes on Baekhyun with eerie synchronization.</p><p>“Well now that we’ve established how I know everyone,” Taemin began, “why am I here?”</p><p>Baekhyun shook himself out of his time-travel induced stupor knowing full well he may end up in another one. “I was doing some reading and learned that Jongin—and I suppose Kāi—has the ability to not only move from place to place, but also from time to time.” He watched their trio carefully, noting the surprise on Taemin’s face and the lack of it on Kāi’s. Interesting. “Therefore, I think that Jongin should be able to get me back to my own time and swapped with the other Baekhyun. It’s certainly more viable of a plan than waiting for the next eclipse and hoping the universe works her magic again.”</p><p>“Which is all well and good, but that plan relies on me having the first clue as to how to travel through time,” Jongin protested. “Which I don’t.”</p><p>Baekhyun bit his cheek, before going all in on his hunch. “But Kāi does.”</p><p>Kāi turned his unsettling turquoise and white gaze on him, stare penetrating.</p><p>“Baby?” Taemin questioned, looking up at Kāi from under his arm. “Can you?”</p><p>After what felt like an eternity, Kāi nodded slowly.</p><p>“Do you think you could teach Jongin?” Baekhyun asked, knowing Kāi would likely do it for him if needed, but it might be difficult considering the other clones would be suspicious.</p><p>Kāi hesitated, shared a look with Jongin, then turned back to Baekhyun. He nodded again.</p><p>“Okay, but <em>when</em> should Jongin take you? How will we know where you are in order to swap you back?”</p><p>“I can tell you exactly where Baekhyun was.” Taemin drew everyone’s gaze to him. “He stayed at one of our bunkers for almost a month if I remember correctly. Landing anytime during that timeframe should make it easy to swap them, and it’s a broad enough length of time that you won’t have to worry about missing the chance.”</p><p>Baekhyun considered his options. Either wait until Kāi could teach Jongin or switch much faster using Kāi. “Are you sure you could do that Kāi? Do you need to know where you’re going?”</p><p>“I think he could do it,” Jongin said. “You’d have a better chance with him than with me, in any case.”</p><p>“But what if the other clones need him?” Junmyeon asked, voicing Baekhyun’s primary concern. “They’ll get suspicious if he doesn’t come when called.”</p><p>The bracelet Baëkhyun always wore, he realized. “Could Jongin fool them? If we gave him some contacts for his eyes? Kāi doesn’t speak so if all he’d need to do is take our clones where they want to go, theoretically he could cover for Kāi, right?”</p><p>Jongin seemed to consider Baekhyun’s suggestion, while Kāi was already shaking his head in protest and Taemin was fingering his knives. “That would likely work,” Jongin agreed. “I know enough of Kāi’s mannerisms to pass. I’d need your bracelet though, love.”</p><p>“What, now?” Taemin stepped between the two. “No, we aren’t doing shit until this plan is ironclad. Just because the Red Force has won the war doesn’t mean we should be reckless with ourselves.”</p><p>Baekhyun blanched. “What do you mean ‘won the war’?”</p><p>Everyone looked at him.</p><p>“You didn’t know?” Junmyeon asked softly.</p><p>“No?!” Baekhyun replied, hysteric in his own ears. “Everyone failed to mention this detail to me?”</p><p>“Why did you think we weren’t on the run?” Jongin asked, as if he was dumb for not realizing sooner. Maybe he was. “We’ve never been safe like this before, clones aside, and we aren’t in danger of Red Force raids. They know where we are, they just don’t care. They have the clones to keep tabs on us. Losing Minseok and Kyungsoo was the last blow.”</p><p>“We gave up, after that. Three gone was too much to bear,” Junmyeon added.</p><p>“I’m sure I told you that, Baek,” Jongdae said, joining their conversation as he entered from the direction of the kitchen.</p><p>“You most certainly did not,” Baekhyun insisted, raking a hand through his hair. “We’ve discussed the clones, and our powers, at length, but no mention of us <em>losing the damn war.”</em></p><p>“The Red Force has complete control of the capital and surrounding cities. The government is a sham, and everyone knows it,” Taemin explained, still stuck to Kāi like a barnacle. “Their control is absolute. They rule from a giant headquarters in the center of the capitol.”</p><p>Baekhyun stored the information away for later examination when he wasn’t having several consecutive breakdowns. “Right, thank you.” His voice was alarmingly strangled sounding. “What we need right now, is a plan.”</p><p>“Wait, what’s going on here?” Jongdae asked, looking at the clump of Jongin, Kāi and Taemin. “Why is your clone here and who is <em>he?”</em></p><p>“No time,” Baekhyun dismissed, moving past Jongdae’s questions. “Kāi, Taemin, let’s talk times and places. We’ll need to be exact for this to work.”</p><p>*</p><p>Spiraling.</p><p>Slowly, carefully, deeper and deeper into that well. It was incremental, a daily process that took a fraction of his attention from the waking world but necessary all the same.</p><p>Spiraling, every minute of every day, down to new depths, past barriers he thought were solid but crumbled like dust as his consciousness brushed against them. Deeper still, something dangerous and deadly rumbled.</p><p>“Baby?”</p><p>Yixing’s voice drew him out of his meditation, and he blinked his eyes open to see Yixing laying across from him, watching him.</p><p>It was a luxury to wake up somewhere safe, after weeks on the run, and know they wouldn’t have to run again in the future. Taemin’s bunker had kept them safe for months on the original timeline. They’d have at least a month to regroup and train before they would need to think about leaving again.</p><p>“Yeah?”</p><p>Yixing scooched closer, kissing the tip of Baekhyun’s nose and looping an arm around his waist, letting their limbs tangle. “Good morning. I love you.”</p><p>Baekhyun melted, heart thundering like a drum behind his ribs. “What a way to wake up,” he murmured, cupping Yixing’s jaw and kissing him gently. “I love you too, sweetheart.”</p><p>He sighed as Yixing slipped a thigh between his own, rolling half on top of him and pressing Baekhyun into the sheets. “First time in weeks I’ve had a chance to have you all to myself,” Yixing purred. “Don’t think I’m not going to take full advantage.”</p><p>Baekhyun hummed and rolled his hips slightly, holding Yixing close. “You’ll hear no complaints from me.” If only his clone could see how soft and unguarded he’d become after only weeks with Yixing. He’d sneer at his weakness and deride Baekhyun for being so foolish as to let love ruin him.</p><p>But his clone had never known how good it was to be loved by Yixing.</p><p>As Yixing stripped them of their clothes and made good on his promise, Baekhyun let himself stop thinking, worrying, about the future and what it held for them. The only thing that mattered was Yixing’s fingers working him open and his mouth around his cock, reminding Baekhyun exactly how skilled he was at making him feel good.</p><p>“Yixing,” he moaned, when Yixing finally bottomed out inside him, hips flush, eyes locked, souls tangling. Their magic reached out, entwining almost tangibly in the scant space between them, and Baekhyun didn’t think it had ever been so good. Tears gathered on his lashes and at the corners of his eyes as Yixing found his prostate, pace slow and relentless as he set every nerve in Baekhyun’s body aflame.</p><p>“Baekhyun, light of my life,” Yixing rambled, his pace picking up slightly. His fingers found Baekhyun’s, intertwining like every other part of them, two halves becoming a whole. “I love you.”</p><p>He raked his free hand down Yixing’s back, grabbing at his hip to encourage his pace faster, tension building low in his gut as he arched into Yixing’s thrusts. “Please,” he groaned as Yixing mouthed at his neck, sucking bruises into his collarbones. “More, Yixing.”</p><p>Yixing shifted his weight, free hand going to stroke Baekhyun off between them, claiming Baekhyun’s mouth in a kiss when he shouted and came. He chased the whimpers of pleasure around Baekhyun’s teeth, shuddering as Baekhyun clenched down on him. A few more strokes, and it was Baekhyun’s turn to lick the moan out of Yixing’s mouth.</p><p>He closed his eyes as they came down together, Yixing on top of him, their heartbeats in sync, magic thrumming in the air around them. Stars danced in his vision when he opened his eyes, the result of his control over his power slipping in the throes of passion. He ran gentle fingers through Yixing’s hair, feeling him gradually soften inside him, relishing the quiet moment of togetherness while it lasted.</p><p>Nothing would ever compare to Yixing, and he almost laughed at the notion that he thought Jongdae might fill that void in the future. He had to save Yixing, or there would be no future worth living in.</p><p>It was all or nothing.</p><p>A gentle knock on their door finally had Yixing shifting with a groan, Baekhyun wincing as he slipped out. “Come in,” he answered, throwing the sheet over them as the door creaked open slowly.</p><p>“It smells like sex in here, you know,” Jongdae griped, lips curled into a smirk. “And even if it didn’t, I bet those little fairy lights aren’t just for fun,” he pointed out, his eyes tracking them as they danced above Baekhyun and Yixing.</p><p>Yixing grunted and flopped against Baekhyun’s side once more. “What do you want, Jongdae?”</p><p>“We want to have a team meeting to discuss what our next steps should be. Everyone is gathering in the main room, much to Taemin’s dismay.” He looked pointedly at their naked torsos. “I’ll let you two get decent, but we’ll be waiting for you.”</p><p>Jongdae did them the courtesy of shutting the door behind him as he left.</p><p>“They’re much less intrusive in the future,” Baekhyun commented, hugging Yixing close. “Being a parent is so tiring.”</p><p>Yixing laughed into his neck. “I’m not sure this is what I’d call parenting. It’s more like babysitting.”</p><p>Baekhyun chased the sound of Yixing’s laughter with a kiss, drunk on happiness despite the stress of all he needed to accomplish still. Just as things were getting heated, he reluctantly broke the kiss. “As much as I’d love to go for round two, we only have about three minutes until Jongdae uses his lightning to get us moving.”</p><p>Yixing sighed, put upon, and rolled away from Baekhyun and off the bed. “Fine. But after this meeting, we’re going right to bed. No arguments.”</p><p>Baekhyun cozied up to him and kissed him lightly. “Deal.”</p><p> </p><p>Taemin seemed about one wrong look away from murdering them all where they sat. In all fairness, he was squished between Sehun and Jongin, who were both splayed across either end of the couch, their long legs taking up an obscene amount of space. Taemin looked like a tiny, angry cat stuck between two Dobermans, which probably didn’t do much for his mood.</p><p> Jongdae smirked from his perch in Chanyeol’s lap as Baekhyun and Yixing entered. “About time you two.”</p><p>Baekhyun flipped him off. “What’s this about, then?”</p><p>“We need to know what our next steps are,” Junmyeon began, sitting forward on his chair primly. “It’s clear you have a plan, and we’d like to know what it is.”</p><p>“My plan has always been simple,” Baekhyun replied, moving to sit on the arm of a chair while Yixing occupied it. “Save Yixing, keep Kyungsoo and Minseok from being taken, and hopefully change the future enough to save the world.”</p><p>“Yes, but <em>how?”</em></p><p>Baekhyun hesitated. “Well, in this present time, the primary goal is to keep Minseok and Kyungsoo safe and alive, and yourselves from being captured. My thinking is that if we can avoid those markers, it will have bigger ripples to my timeline.” He looked briefly at Yixing. “I think most of the saving the world is going to come down to our future selves, and not happen in the past.”</p><p>“So, basically, we run and hide,” Chanyeol surmised. “Kinda shit for a plan, don’t you think?” He wound long arms around Jongdae’s waist and held him like a stuffed bear. “We’re stronger than that.”</p><p>“Maybe,” Baekhyun agreed. “But we can’t save the world unless we have all of us together.”</p><p>“Well then let’s go now,” Minseok suggested. “We know how to work as a team, why not take the Red Force down now before they have a chance to entrench themselves further into the city?”</p><p>“Because you aren’t strong enough,” Baekhyun replied, biting his lip as outraged cries met his statement.</p><p>“Like hell?” Jongdae struggled in Chanyeol’s hold, but he held him firmly in his lap. “Baek, you know we can easily take out several squads on our own. We could case out their base and plan an assault. It would take planning, but we could do it.”</p><p>“Cutting off the head of the snake would be possible,” Junmyeon agreed, folding his arms as he thought. “We should consider it, Baekhyun.”</p><p>He sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose between his fingers. It would only work if they were keeping the tree somewhere in their base. But he had no idea where the tree was in this time. In the future he knew exactly where it was, but they could storm the Red Force’s headquarters right now and it would all be for nothing if the tree wasn’t there.</p><p>“It’s too risky.” He looked to Yixing, hoping for backup. “We can’t do it, guys.”</p><p>“What aren’t you telling us?” Kyungsoo wondered, voice even. “There’s a reason why you don’t want to do it, and it has nothing to do with how powerful we are.”</p><p>“You’re right, I do have my reasons. And one of them is that you <em>aren’t</em> as powerful as you will be three years from now. Another is that there’s more to saving the world than bringing down the Red Force.” He scrubbed a hand down his face, knowing that wouldn’t be enough. “They have something that we were supposed to protect. But they stole it from us, and that’s why the world is so out of balance. It’s why the sun never breaks through the ash clouds, why nothing grows. But I don’t know where it is in this time, and I’m not willing to risk the lives of my entire team because it <em>might</em> be in the Red Force’s headquarters.” He looked at them all. “I won’t do it.”</p><p>“Well damn, Baek,” Sehun muttered. “Why didn’t you just say so.”</p><p>“Hold on, if we were supposed to protect it, why don’t I have any idea what you’re talking about?” Minseok interjected, frowning.</p><p>Oh boy. Baekhyun studied the ground. He hadn’t even told Yixing about this. “Uh, because it happened a long time ago…in our past lives.”</p><p>Resounding, echoing silence.</p><p>“I don’t know you people very well,” Taemin said into the silence, “but you’re into some freaky shit.”</p><p>“You can’t be serious?” Jongin said, leaning forward in his seat. Taemin’s eyes tracked every twitch of movement from him. “Past lives?”</p><p>“Babe…” Even Yixing sounded like Baekhyun had tipped over the edge into crazy.</p><p>“I know it sounds insane, but in the future we find these books and they explain everything. It’s how I know so much about your powers, and what we need to do, and what’s at stake. You’re going to have to trust me.”</p><p>“Why didn’t you say anything?” Junmyeon questioned. “If it’s our lives too, shouldn’t you have told us sooner?”</p><p>“Oh, like when you all thought I was an evil clone from the future?” Baekhyun shot back. “If I’d told you ‘Hi I’m from the future where we have evil clones of ourselves and also we’re reincarnations of ancient guardians and we’ve been fighting the Red Force for centuries’ you would have left me for dead right then and there.” He crossed his arms, staring Junmyeon down. “You know you would have.”</p><p>Junmyeon slumped. “Okay, but I still don’t like it.”</p><p>“I’m not asking you to like it, I’m asking you to believe me.”</p><p>“I do,” Yixing said, squeezing his waist. “I believe you, babe.”</p><p>It took a moment, but eventually everyone else chimed in their agreement with Yixing. As the conversation settled and everyone settled into smaller, related conversation, Junmyeon came up to him.</p><p>“So, assuming we let you handle this in the future when we get you swapped back, what should we do in the meantime?”</p><p>Baekhyun looked at Junmyeon. “Train. Dig deeper into your powers, learn and explore what they can do. We’ve only barely delved beneath the surface.”</p><p>“We can do that. We should also work on a concrete plan for getting you swapped back with our Baekhyun.”</p><p>He sighed, unable to look at Yixing. Going back meant potentially going back to a world without Yixing. “Yeah, we’ll need to come up with a plan for that too, something better than waiting for the next eclipse.”</p><p>“But for the next few days, at least, we rest,” Junmyeon finished for him, already knowing where Baekhyun was headed.</p><p>“We’ve certainly earned it,” Baekhyun agreed.</p><p>He leaned back against Yixing, who wrapped Baekhyun up in sturdy, warm arms, and watched his team as the tension of the last few weeks slowly bled from them. Determination to save them swelled inside him, more so for the man at his back.</p><p>“Come on,” Yixing whispered. “Let’s go back to bed.”</p><p>He would save them all, no matter the cost.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0012"><h2>12. Chapter 12</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>The few days it took for Kāi and Jongin to coordinate their schedules and start switching places crawled by at an agonizingly slow pace. Baekhyun understood why they needed to wait—they had to make sure the other clones wouldn’t notice Jongin and Kāi changing places—but it was more torturous than agreeing to let Baëkhyun have him for a night.</p><p>He wanted to get back to the past and to <em>Yixing</em> again. For the first time, he let himself think about what his future self had done. Had he gone back to Yixing? Were they together? It was weird to think of a future version of himself as almost another person, but it felt like it. The Baekhyun the others described was cold, closed off, and calculating to a degree not unlike his clone. But while he could readily admit he was capable of that, it felt like a completely different person from who he was now.</p><p>Then again, being separated from Yixing by time had made him feel more desolate than he’d ever been, so maybe they weren’t as different as he thought.</p><p>“Don’t you look buried under thoughts of despair,” a voice said from the doorway of his room.</p><p>Baekhyun shifted his gaze from the ceiling to Baëkhyun, completely unsurprised to find him there, Jongin—or was it Kāi?—slipping away like mist.</p><p>“Oh, it’s just you.” He turned his gaze back to the ceiling, waiting for Baëkhyun to come closer. He didn’t need to engage his clone for Baëkhyun to bother him. He had more than enough energy to pester Baekhyun all night if he wanted.</p><p>“Just me?” Baëkhyun appeared above him, icy eyes narrowed in apparent calculation. “I would think I’ve established that I warrant a little more attention from you than this. I am dangerous, you know.”</p><p>Baekhyun hummed, eyes lazily drifting over Baëkhyun’s features as he drifted closer to sit on the edge of Baekhyun’s bed. “Yes, but I’m not really afraid of you, so it’s hard to muster up the proper respect.”</p><p>“I bet you would if I was your Yixing.”</p><p>He mulled that over, trying to figure out Baëkhyun’s motive for that specific barb. He must be seeking more information on Yixing, wondering what kind of person he was to have Baekhyun so enraptured. “If you were Yixing, we wouldn’t be talking at all right now.”</p><p>Baëkhyun quirked a single, silvery eyebrow. “And what, pray tell, <em>would</em> you be doing?”</p><p>Baekhyun pulled him down for a kiss, relishing the swift inhale Baëkhyun gave away in surprise, letting his lips slot with that mirror image, kissing him like he wished he could kiss Yixing. Like the last time he’d kissed himself, he refused to let the pace speed up or to let Baëkhyun take control. He could feel how much this game of his affected his clone, and while it was a game to some degree, it was also an attempt to give Baëkhyun the gentleness and affection that it seemed like he’d never had.</p><p>He threaded careful, tender fingers through Baëkhyun’s hair, letting his thumb graze the shell of Baëkhyun’s ear, chasing the small helpless sound he made with his lips, trying to taste the way Baëkhyun shivered in his hold. He tugged until Baëkhyun was giving in and shifting to lay half on him, bodies twisting together like vines.</p><p>“I’m glad you’re here,” he murmured, into the skin of Baëkhyun’s neck.</p><p>Baëkhyun pulled away, looking down at him with wide eyes. “What?”</p><p>Baekhyun blinked back at his mirror image, noting the surprise in his features and the confusion in his eyes. “Is this the first time you’ve been wanted?” Baekhyun pulled his clone back down for another slow, heady kiss, although Baëkhyun was sluggish to respond.</p><p>“I’m just, not used to, uh,” he seemed to lose his train of thought as Baekhyun continued to kiss at his throat, tugging at the stupid leather blazer and pulling it aside.</p><p>“Well, if I’m going to leave, I’m glad to have another moment with you before I do,” Baekhyun said absently, succeeding in pushing the blazer down Baëkhyun’s shoulders. He flipped their positions, taking in Baëkhyun’s shocked gaze, honing in on the exposed collarbones that bore bruises from lips not his own. He quirked an eyebrow. “Chen?” he asked, tracing the small purple marks with his fingertips.</p><p>Beneath him, Baëkhyun shivered, his eyelids fluttering. “Yeah. Sometimes it feels like Chen is all I deserve.”</p><p>Baekhyun wasn’t sure his clone meant to say that, judging by the wariness that filled his eyes as he looked up at Baekhyun. “You deserve good things,” Baekhyun whispered, placing his mouth over the marks Chen had left, replacing them with marks of his own. “This world is dark enough without adding to it. You deserve to be treated gently.”</p><p>He could feel the tremors running through Baëkhyun’s muscles, his hands coming up to rest on Baekhyun’s hips. “Why do you care? I’ve only ever tried to break you,” Baëkhyun asked. “I don’t deserve this from you.”</p><p>Baekhyun worked his way back up to Baëkhyun’s mouth, plying his lips with kisses so lush he lost himself in the sensation of them. Finally, when Baëkhyun was soft and languid beneath him, he said, “Everyone deserves love, Baëkhyun, even if they don’t feel like they do.” He might be separated from Yixing, and he had no idea how his future self would feel about how Baekhyun has attempted to soften their clone’s edges, but if he was going to accomplish one thing in the future, it was this.</p><p>Baëkhyun would know what it was like to be held tenderly and kissed with love and kindness. He would know how good it could be. Yixing had given it to Baekhyun, and it was the least he could do to give it to Baëkhyun.</p><p>“You ask me what Yixing is to me, why I care so much about him and why I worked so hard to keep him from you, well this is it.” Baekhyun kissed his clone again, pouring all his affection and love for Yixing into the kiss, so that Baëkhyun <em>felt</em> it. “It’s because he gives me what I’m giving you. It is not weakness, but a gift.” He traced gentle fingers over the scar across Baëkhyun’s face. “Love can hurt, but it can also heal.”</p><p>“What did you mean, earlier, when you said you were going to leave?” Baëkhyun asked, shifting the conversation in a way Baekhyun hadn’t expected.</p><p>He blinked, realizing his error. He hadn’t meant to give that away. “You’ll get your original back soon,” he said softly. “I’m going to go back to where I belong.”</p><p>Baëkhyun squirmed underneath him. “You just <em>can’t</em> live without Yixing, huh? I’m not good enough, despite everything you just said?”</p><p>He kissed Baëkhyun, deeply and passionately, trying to impress how sincere his words had been. “I know you might not believe me, but I meant everything I said. And whether or not it’s this version of me, or the one you know, I promise we can’t hate you. The three of us...we are one and the same. Three parts of a whole. You would not exist without us, but we would also not be complete without you.” He stroked Baëkhyun’s quicksilver hair away from his blue eyes, brushing a thumb over his eyebrow. “You have value. You are important to us.”</p><p>“Easy for you to say, when you’re leaving,” Baëkhyun muttered, still looking mulish. “Baekhyun prime <em>hates</em> me.”</p><p>Baekhyun shook his head. “If it’s possible for me to treat you like this—gently, like you deserve—he has the same potential. You need to <em>show</em> him that you want to be treated with affection. Treat him like I’ve treated you and he will respond in kind.” Baekhyun placed a kiss on his nose. “I promise.”</p><p>Baëkhyun still didn’t seem convinced, but he at least looked like he was mulling Baekhyun’s words over. “When are you going?”</p><p>“Soon.”</p><p>Baëkhyun nodded, then pressed a sequence on his bracelet. Kāi appeared next to the bed, completely unfazed to find them tangled together. “Then it’s time for me to go,” Baëkhyun whispered, extricating himself from the bed and standing. “Good luck.”</p><p>Baekhyun sat up, surprised at how...soft Baëkhyun seemed. He’d expected a fight. For his clone to hiss and yell at him, possibly try to run him through with the rapier he kept in the corner of his room, untouched. Something twinged in his heart watching his clone just...give up.</p><p>“Remember what I said, Baëkhyun,” he said in farewell.</p><p>Baëkhyun nodded, then turned to face Kāi. “Take me home.”</p><p>Kāi gathered Baëkhyun up into his arms. In the split second before they disappeared, he winked at Baekhyun.</p><p>Jongin, then.</p><p>He had approximately ten seconds to steady his breathing and start to process Baëkhyun’s strange goodbye before Kāi was back in the room. He reached for Baekhyun’s hand, and the second their skin brushed the world lurched away from him.</p><p>When he blinked, they were somewhere completely different, Taemin waiting.</p><p>“What?” he asked, mind still trying to understand everything that had happened in the last thirty seconds. “Why am I here? <em>Where</em> am I?”</p><p>“You are where you were three years ago,” Taemin answered, pulling Kāi to his side and stretching up on his toes to kiss his cheek. “How is Jongin doing, sweetheart?” he asked Kāi.</p><p>Baekhyun ceased to exist for the next few moments as they seemed to get lost in each other.</p><p>Kāi shrugged one shoulder, then nodded.</p><p>“Good enough, then. I’m glad,” Taemin murmured, pressing several short but sweet kisses to Kāi’s lips. “Are you ready for this?”</p><p>Kāi nodded once, then pressed his forehead to Taemin’s.</p><p>“I know,” Taemin whispered. “Me too, baby.” Taemin looked over at Baekhyun. “Are you ready?”</p><p>“What, now?” The plan they’d agreed on didn’t have him leaving for another day or two.</p><p>“Kāi said the clones are going to be in a briefing with the Red Force, and now is the best time to send you back. They’ll be distracted enough to not notice Jongin is in Kāi’s place.”</p><p>“But...I’m not ready!” He hadn’t said goodbye to any of them. Chanyeol, Junmyeon, <em>Jongdae.</em> He’d meant to say goodbye to them.</p><p>“It’s now or never,” Taemin countered. “This is the same place where you were three years ago, so all Kāi has to do is step <em>back</em> through time. It’s the best option. I’m sorry we had to take you away without warning.”</p><p>Baekhyun nodded, then sighed. “Okay. Let’s do this, then.”</p><p>Kāi swept Taemin up in his arms, kissing him quickly, then set him down and turned to Baekhyun, holding out a hand.</p><p>“Good luck, be careful,” Taemin said, stepping away from Kāi. “And come back to me, baby.”</p><p>Kāi nodded once, and Baekhyun stepped forward, taking Kāi’s hand.</p><p>He gripped tightly, Kāi’s turquoise and white stare finding his, something like reassurance in his eyes as the world fell away and time stood still.</p><p>*</p><p>Baekhyun would never get tired of waking up to Yixing next to him. In the weeks he’d been in his own past, happiness had reintroduced itself into his heart, and part of him wondered how he’d lived so long without it.</p><p>He would never get tired of feeling Yixing’s heartbeat sync with his, their bodies pressed close.</p><p>And he would never tire of Yixing rolling him onto his back to slip warm fingers into his mouth and suck possessive marks up the skin of Baekhyun’s neck.</p><p>“Mmm, good morning,” Baekhyun rasped, when Yixing withdrew his fingers to kiss Baekhyun fully. It was a while before he could speak again.</p><p>“I can’t get enough of you,” Yixing murmured, words sinking into the thin skin of Baekhyun’s collarbones. “I love you more every day.”</p><p>Baekhyun shivered in delight, tugging Yixing back to his mouth by his hair. “Thank you for making me cave to this,” he said, clutching at Yixing’s jaw and kissing him deeply. “We would have wasted so much time if you’d let me be stubborn.”</p><p>“I had to,” Yixing replied, nipping at his jaw playfully. “You look irresistible with that white hair.” Yixing ran his fingers through said hair, tugging Baekhyun’s head back and exposing more of his neck, working from the base up to Baekhyun’s ear. “It sets off your beautiful brown eyes so well, baby.”</p><p>Baekhyun clawed at Yixing’s back through his thin shirt, trying to pull them closer to each other. Just as Yixing’s clever fingers were working their way under Baekhyun’s shirt, what sounded like Sehun yelled, <em>“Baekhyun??”</em></p><p>He groaned as Yixing stilled above him. “Ignore him, he’ll figure out whatever it is.”</p><p>“But it’s Sehun,” Yixing reasoned. “He’s not prone to panic, and he’s likely just woken up everyone else.”</p><p><em>“Why </em>do you have to be so <em>reasonable </em>when all I want you to do is fuck me senseless,” Baekhyun complained, pushing Yixing off him and rolling out of bed. “They have <em>no</em> respect for my needs.”</p><p><em>“Baekhyun get your ass out here!” </em>Sehun yelled, and if he hadn’t woken everyone up the first time, he definitely had that time.</p><p><em>“What?”</em> Baekhyun yelled, stumbling out of his room and running up out of the depths of the bunker, bare feet slapping against the cold concrete. He all but skidded around the corner and into the main room where he promptly had a heart attack.</p><p>Standing in the middle of the room was…himself. And teal-haired Jongin. With a very confused looking Sehun in a ready stance in front of them.</p><p>“What the hell is this?” Yixing asked, peering around Baekhyun’s shoulder. As soon as he spoke, Jongin swayed on his feet, eyes rolling back in his head, and slumped face first to the ground.</p><p>“Woah, big guy,” Sehun grunted, catching Jongin before he could break his nose.</p><p>Baekhyun was still trying to work his head around how <em>his</em> Jongin had gotten there, and why he was looking at himself.</p><p>“Yixing!” the other Baekhyun cried, sprinting across the space and past Baekhyun, flying into an equally stunned Yixing’s arms. “I missed you so much, baby.”</p><p>Baekhyun watched a younger, black-haired version of himself kiss Yixing enthusiastically. Something dark whirled around behind his lungs, making it hard to breathe.</p><p>“Will someone please explain what’s going on?” Sehun asked, trying to maneuver Jongin onto the couch. “Baekhyun, why are there two of you?”</p><p>“Because Kāi brought me back home!” his past self exclaimed, separating from Yixing. “We found a way to swap us back faster.” He pouted at Sehun. “I’m offended you didn’t realize I’d come home.”</p><p>“Wait, <em>Kāi</em> brought you back?” Baekhyun asked, latching on to the thing he could process most easily. “He’s <em>dangerous</em> what were you thinking?”</p><p>“Oh, he is not,” younger Baekhyun protested. “He’s a giant softie underneath that eerie gaze.”</p><p>“How is this not making the universe implode?” Yixing asked, looking between the two of them with wide eyes. “How are both of you existing in the same place at once?”</p><p>The second Yixing mentioned it, Baekhyun felt his head start to ache as memories came at him rapid-fire, first of the plan to swap them back, and then everything that had happened in the last ten minutes. “I don’t know,” his younger self was saying, but Baekhyun was <em>remembering</em> saying that to Yixing in the next second.</p><p>“I think I need to sit down,” he muttered, stumbling to a nearby chair and slumping into it. His memories and his experience were repeating like an infinite loop in his mind, making his skull feel like it was splitting apart. Yixing’s concerned face swam in his vision a moment later, blessedly free of his own face staring back at him.</p><p>Yixing carefully lifted his hands to Baekhyun’s head, placing light fingers to his temples, the warm hum of his magic washing over Baekhyun. He relaxed back against the chair, tension bleeding from his muscles as Yixing sent wave after wave of healing magic through him. “Better?” he asked.</p><p>“Better,” Baekhyun confirmed, opening his eyes, vision much clearer. “It’s like having an infinite loop of memory in my head, with him in the same time as me.” He flicked a glance at himself.</p><p>Yixing hummed, fingers still at Baekhyun’s temples. “I’m creating a barrier of my magic around your brain. Hopefully it should intercept whatever cosmic fuckery is happening right now and keep you from going insane.”</p><p>“The plan was always to swap places as quickly as possible,” his younger self piped up, coming up behind Yixing and looking down at Baekhyun. “But since it looks like Kāi is down for the count, we have some time I guess.”</p><p>Baekhyun closed his eyes again. “Only I would be stupid enough to mess with time like this without coming up with a solid plan first.”</p><p>“Hey!” he heard himself protest. “Taemin and Kāi were very careful in planning. We just, uh, though Kāi would be strong enough to do a round trip.”</p><p>“What in the motherfucking shit is happening right now?”</p><p>And that was Jongdae, Baekhyun realized, opening his eyes. Jongdae, Kyungsoo and Chanyeol were all standing in the entry to the main room, in various states of undress, looking like they’d just woken up. Kyungsoo was rubbing at his eyes like the double Baekhyuns would go away if he kept working at it.</p><p>“Kyungsoo!” his past self cried, rushing Kyungsoo and nearly bowling him over with the enthusiasm of his hug. “You have no idea how much I missed you.”</p><p>“So, your Baekhyun is back,” Baekhyun said, somewhat lackluster, to Chanyeol, Jongdae and Kyungsoo. “He just arrived.”</p><p>“Who just arriv—oh holy shit there’s two Baekhyuns.” Junmyeon rounded the corner, nearly running into Jongdae and staring almost cross-eyed at Baekhyun and Kyungsoo.</p><p>“Is that…<em>future me?” </em>Jongin asked, having walked into the room, taken in the double Baekhyuns with a shrug, before looking at Kāi. Taemin was suspiciously close behind him and looking at Kāi with an open hunger on his face that Baekhyun didn’t care to think too deeply about.</p><p>Minseok slipped into the room, took everything in with a sweep of his gaze, and settled into a corner out of the way to observe. Baekhyun figured that was his cue to start talking.</p><p>“Quiet, please,” he said, bringing the small clumps of furious whispering to a close. “Baekhyun, let go of Kyungsoo he’s not a teddy bear.”</p><p>Kyungsoo was released with some reluctance on Baekhyun’s part, only to be pulled into Chanyeol’s.</p><p>He swayed slightly on his feet as he stood, Yixing reaching out to steady him. “I’m sure you’ve all noticed, but your Baekhyun has returned to you through what I consider to be highly idiotic means, but nonetheless here he is.” He gestured to Baekhyun. “Questions?”</p><p>Everyone started talking at once, but Junmyeon prevailed and managed to be heard finally. “Does this mean you’re leaving us?”</p><p>Sorrow crashed through him in a heavy wave. “I would imagine so, once Kāi recovers.”</p><p>“We’ll watch him!” Taemin volunteered, even though nobody had raised the question of what to do with Jongin’s clone.</p><p>“What do we call you both, while you’re in the same time?” Kyungsoo asked, ever the pragmatist.</p><p>“We could call our Baekhyun ‘Prime’,” Chanyeol suggested.</p><p>“No,” his younger self refused. “If anything, he’s Prime.” He gestured to Baekhyun. “He’s older, and it’s what your clone called you.”</p><p>“But I’m not the first,” Baekhyun protested. “I’m the result of you. I dub you Baekhyun Prime.”</p><p>“Good, glad that’s settled,” Junmyeon announced, moving on even though Baekhyun Prime was still muttering under his breath. “So what’s the plan, then? You two swap back and that’s it?”</p><p>Baekhyun shook his head as everyone, even Prime, looked at him expectantly. “I’ve worked to make sure the timeline is altered enough to change the future events that take Yixing. Without him, there is no hope. He must live.”</p><p>“Save Yixing, save the world,” Jongdae muttered. “Easy enough.”</p><p>“Dae! Did you know in the future we fuck?” Prime said, turning to face him.</p><p>“Focus, please,” Baekhyun drawled over the sound of Jongdae screeching, <em>“What?” </em></p><p>“How are you two existing in the same space without shattering time completely?” Minseok piped up from his corner.</p><p>“Yixing, I think,” Baekhyun replied. “Before he shielded my mind I almost went insane from the endless feedback between Prime’s memories and my experience coming in simultaneously.” He felt Yixing grip his wrist. “I think Yixing is an exception in more ways than I thought.”</p><p>“I need to speak to Yixing.” Baekhyun Prime stepped forward and reached out for him. “And you too, I think,” he added, looking at Baekhyun.</p><p>His own brown eyes stared back at him, slightly bigger in a thin face. The future had been as unkind to Prime as the past had been good for Baekhyun.</p><p>“I don’t think we’re going to get anything else done until we’ve eaten something anyway,” Sehun said, making a shooing motion at the three of them. “You may as well talk now before training.”</p><p>“Ugh of <em>course </em>he has you training,” Prime muttered. “I can’t believe I become such a hard-ass.”</p><p>Yixing walked over, pulling Baekhyun behind him by the hand, and steered Prime out of the room and down the halls until they got to their room.</p><p>“How much do you know?” Prime said, turning on him as soon as Yixing had shut the door. “I read the books you had,” he said, walking up to Baekhyun.</p><p>He’d almost forgotten what it was like to look at a living mirror. “I know everything that was in those books.”</p><p>“Then why didn’t you have Jongin switch you back. You knew he could.”</p><p>Because part of him hadn’t wanted to go back. But more than that was the fact that, “Jongin wasn’t nearly powerful enough for something so big. It took him the longest to grasp his powers in the first place, never mind learning how to move through <em>time.” </em></p><p>Prime gave him a look that said he very much knew Baekhyun was being obtuse. “Then why didn’t you train him in the future once you found out! He had no idea he even could when I mentioned it to him. That’s why Kāi had to bring me, because he was the only one that knew how.”</p><p>“There wasn’t a point!” he protested. “If you’ve read the books then you know we have <em>no </em>chance without Yixing. He has to live otherwise there isn’t hope.”</p><p>“Let’s all calm down for a moment,” Yixing suggested, placing a hand on both of them as Baekhyun Prime ran a hand through his raven hair.</p><p>“How is this not weird for you?” Baekhyun asked Yixing, between the two of them.</p><p>Yixing shrugged. “It’s two versions of the man I love. If anything, I’m the true winner here.”</p><p>Baekhyun rolled his eyes in the same moment Prime muttered, “Incorrigible.”</p><p>“All I’m saying,” Prime continued, after a moment to collect himself, “is that you could have done a better job of preparing them.”</p><p>Baekhyun quirked an eyebrow. “You think so, huh?” He bit back his anger. His past self was so <em>dumb, </em>so full of a self-righteous assurance that he knew everything and therefore knew how best to act. But he didn’t. Baekhyun worked to temper his tone. “You don’t know everything, despite what you think. And some things need to be kept close to the vest.”</p><p>“Does he know?” Baekhyun Prime asked, voice low and harsh as he pointed to Yixing. “Does he know the cost of keeping things secret?”</p><p>“Shut up before I make you,” Baekhyun growled back, edging closer to his dark-haired self, pushing Yixing aside.</p><p>“Answer me!” Prime demanded.</p><p>“It’s not important,” Baekhyun obfuscated</p><p>“Like hell it isn’t?” Prime gestured wildly, pointing to Yixing. “He needs to know that your plan will likely k—”</p><p>Baekhyun kissed him, desperate to keep him from talking, the only thing he could think of to shut himself up. And it was <em>nothing </em>like kissing Baëkhyun, although it should have been similar.</p><p>But kissing Baëkhyun had never resulted in hearing Yixing gasp in surprise, or feeling Baekhyun Prime submit to him. Prime melted like cotton candy in the rain, soft and pliant as the implicit trust between them rose to the surface of the kiss.</p><p>“Yeah, talk later,” Baekhyun Prime whispered, when Baekhyun pulled away to look at Yixing over his shoulder.</p><p>Yixing was staring at them with a slight flush high on his cheekbones, mouth slightly parted.</p><p>“You coming?” he asked Yixing, before diving back in. Prime’s hands were all over him, tugging him closer and tilting his head to kiss Baekhyun deeper, and generally acting like this was the first time he’d been treated gently in a while, desperate for more. He rolled through the memories he’d gotten from Prime, and couldn’t fault him for reacting the way he was.</p><p>Baëkhyun was not an easy creature to exist with.</p><p>He felt the tingle of Yixing’s hands as they slid up his waist and under his shirt, peeling away the skintight fabric until Baekhyun had to pull away from himself and yank the shirt over his head. Yixing slipped into the scant space to kiss Prime, making him whimper as tears gathered at the corners of his eyes.</p><p>Baekhyun knew all too well how difficult it was to live without Yixing, and he couldn’t fault the tears that slipped free of Prime’s lashes. How the universe wasn’t breaking with two versions of the same person together at once he didn’t know, but he knew there were things about his connection with Yixing he <em>still </em>didn’t understand even after years of research.</p><p>He set to work kissing the back of Yixing’s neck, right at his hairline where he knew Yixing was most sensitive. Maybe it was the funky voodoo magic Yixing had wrapped around his brain, but time seemed to jump, all of them naked and on the bed together, watching Yixing make out with himself, his own fingers slicked up and opening Yixing with steady, slow strokes.</p><p>He might worry about the gaps in his memory, but he’d likely get the complementary version of his past self’s experience once they were separated by time again. He blinked, and he was sinking slowly into Yixing’s tight heat, bottoming out as Yixing swallowed Prime down smoothly.</p><p>Baekhyun had experience seeing his own face in the throes of bliss thanks to his many encounters with Baëkhyun, but there was an <em>innocence </em>present in his own features he’d never seen in Baëkhyun’s before, and it was fascinating to watch. Prime bent forward over Yixing as Baekhyun’s hips slammed in, reaching out to pull Baekhyun into another kiss.</p><p>They lost themselves, kissing with no end until Yixing whined between them, clenching down around Baekhyun and circling his hips. Judging by the way Prime bit down on his lip, Baekhyun would guess Yixing had just done something clever with his tongue.</p><p>Time seemed to slow and stretch around him like taffy as he settled into a languid pace with his hips, pushing Yixing forward onto Prime’s cock until he was nearly gagging with it. Prime came first, clutching at Yixing’s hair and curling over him as he shouted his name.</p><p>Prime fell back against the sheets with a whump, slipping from Yixing’s mouth and watching Baekhyun work. When Baekhyun’s hips sped up to a telling pace, Prime wormed his way under Yixing, taking him in hand and giving him friction to work against, letting Baekhyun’s motions get Yixing off in his hands.</p><p>Yixing came first with a raspy whimper, spasming around Baekhyun, and that was enough to tip him over after a few last thrusts, frantic for release. Yixing collapsed to Prime’s chest beneath him, panting heavily as his sweat cooled in the crisp underground air. Baekhyun collapsed to the side of them both, watching Yixing’s blissed out eyes as they slowly slipped shut, cuddled into Prime.</p><p>“You should tell him, you know,” Prime whispered, once it was clear Yixing was asleep.</p><p>Baekhyun’s hand stuttered in the trail he was working up and down Yixing’s spine. “He doesn’t need to know, because I’m going to pay it.”</p><p>Prime’s eyes slid slowly to him. “Are we strong enough to pay that price?”</p><p>Baekhyun sighed. “You aren’t, but I am.” Down and down he spiraled, endlessly into the deep. “Which is why <em>your </em>job is to keep him alive so that I can do it.”</p><p>Prime nodded slowly, careful not to jostle Yixing on his chest. “I keep him safe and alive, and you save us. Or I guess, <em>we </em>save everyone, when we’re strong enough.”</p><p>“If you succeed, things will start changing as soon as I get back, I think. And provided Yixing appears and we have Kyungsoo and Minseok back, we should be able to immediately go for a siege to end everything.” He placed a gentle kiss to Yixing’s forehead. “He’s the key to everything.”</p><p> </p><p>A few hours later, when he’d managed to separate from Yixing and Baekhyun Prime and their needy cuddles, Baekhyun slipped into a pair of pants and padded into the main room on the hunt for some protein packs.</p><p>Instead he found Taemin and Jongin making out on the couch while a sleepy Kāi watched with a punch-drunk smile. Taemin was in Jongin’s lap, tipping his head back against the couch, one hand twisted in his silvery hair, the other clutching Kāi’s wrist.</p><p>Baekhyun warily approached Kāi. He’d never had many interactions with him, but thanks to Prime, he knew more than before. “How long until you can make a return trip?” he asked softly, ignoring Taemin and Jongin, who hadn’t paused at all.</p><p>Kāi turned a sleepy turquoise and white gaze on him, shrugging slightly before holding up eight fingers.</p><p>“Eight hours?” Kāi nodded in confirmation. “That should give us time to make plans.”</p><p>Kāi seemed to give him an approximation of a smile.</p><p>“Is it weird, seeing the younger version of yourself?” he asked, curious as to what the clones thought about this version of Jongin that was more puppy than man.</p><p>Kāi tilted his head back and forth, which seemed to convey <em>kind of.</em></p><p>Baekhyun leaned close to whisper in Kāi’s ear, surprised when he didn’t flinch away. Prime must have gained some serious trust. “If you want to spend your remaining time with them, it might be a good idea. You might not get another chance later,” he warned.</p><p>He didn’t have the heart to tell Kāi that if they succeeded, there was a good chance he would cease to exist. This was the only gift he could give the three of them. What would be the first time for Taemin and Jongin would be the last for Kāi, if they succeeded. Even though he hadn’t known about them until Prime’s memories reached him, he wanted them to be happy.</p><p>Kāi sat up a little straighter, and Baekhyun backed away as Kāi reached over to tug Taemin off Jongin’s lap and into his own, kissing him deeply.</p><p>Taemin squeaked in surprise, before melting into it. Jongin stared at the two of them with an open mouth, blinking rapidly. With an impressive flex of his muscles, Kāi stood with Taemin in his arms, grabbing Jongin by the collar and tugging him up after them. Jongin followed behind them in a daze as Kāi carried Taemin down the hallway.</p><p>The last thing Baekhyun saw was Taemin sinking his teeth into Kāi’s neck with a demonic glint in his eyes.</p><p>And Taemin had accused <em>them</em> of being into kinky shit.</p><p>After rooting around in a few boxes, he finally found some that contained stacks of protein packs specifically balanced to provide everything their bodies needed to keep functioning. He grabbed two strawberry flavored ones for himself and the other Baekhyun, as well as a cherry flavored one for Yixing.</p><p>The compound was empty of everyone else as he made his way back to the room he shared with Yixing, although he thought he heard sounds of Chanyeol and Minseok sparring in a room further down the hall.</p><p>“What took you so long, baby?” Yixing pouted at him as he made his way back to the bed. Baekhyun Prime was leaving marks on Yixing’s neck, so Baekhyun wasn’t sure exactly why he was complaining.</p><p>“I ran into Taemin, Jongin and Kāi,” he explained. “Kāi says we have about eight hours before he’s ready to take me back.”</p><p>Yixing frowned and reached for the pack Baekhyun handed him, humming in appreciation as he sucked down the cherry goo. “Doesn’t seem like enough time.”</p><p>“Yeah, I’m feeling cheated,” Prime said, ungluing himself from Yixing’s neck to slurp down his strawberry meal as fast as humanly possible. “I have to spend like two months with your deranged yet sensitive clone, and all I get with the older, cooler version of myself is less than a day?”</p><p>Baekhyun swallowed his own meal down slowly, finding it difficult to get down past the lump in his throat. “I mean, technically you will be me in three years, so there’s not much to be jealous about.”</p><p>“It’s still not enough time,” Yixing protested, tossing his empty pack to the floor. The sheet pooled around his waist as he sat up, pulling Baekhyun into a cherry-flavored kiss. “Past or present, I’ll never have enough of you.”</p><p>Baekhyun shivered, dimly registering the sound of a second pack hitting the floor after Yixing’s, his own half-finished pack pulled gently from his fingers.</p><p>“Since we only have eight hours left,” said Baekhyun Prime, slipping his hand down the front of Baekhyun’s pants. “Let’s make the most of it.”</p><p> </p><p>Baekhyun clasped hands with Kāi, breathing deeply. He still wasn’t fond of the feeling moving between space gave him, even after all these years. His fingers danced over the hilt of his rapier, seeking comfort as his world felt like it was being ripped away from him yet again.</p><p>“Stay safe, older me,” Baekhyun Prime said, hugging Baekhyun tightly. “You aren’t allowed to hurt our body.”</p><p>Baekhyun nodded. “Keep Yixing safe.” He pulled Prime close with his free hand, their foreheads touching. “At any cost,” he whispered.</p><p>Prime nodded, sniffing a little and stepping back after a sweet kiss to his cheek. Then Yixing was stepping forward, and Baekhyun felt the emotions he’d been trying to hold back swell to the surface.</p><p>Yixing exhaled shakily. “I know I have you here with me to stay, but I’m going to miss this version of you too.” His eyes grew glassy. “I’ve loved getting to know the man you become.”</p><p>He squeezed his eyes shut as Yixing kissed him slowly, gently, tears slipping free despite his best efforts. “I don’t want to go,” he whispered against Yixing’s lips, the only admission he would let himself have. “I don’t want to lose you.”</p><p>“You won’t,” Yixing assured him. “I’ll stay alive. I’ll be there when you get back.”</p><p>Baekhyun choked on a laugh. “Do you promise?”</p><p>“Promise.” Yixing smiled at him, the dimple in his cheek popping out like it too, wanted to say goodbye to him. “Go, before you reduce the rest of us to a sobbing mess.”</p><p>Baekhyun tore his gaze away from Yixing to see everyone gathered in the room, forlorn looks on most of their faces. “I’ll see you all in a minute, I hope,” Baekhyun said, looking at each of them in turn and saying a silent farewell each time.</p><p>Next to him, Taemin was still clinging to Kāi. “I’ll see you in the future, baby,” Taemin whispered before he pulled away, falling back into Jongin’s arms like he was made to be wrapped up in them. Baekhyun’s heart ached for what they were losing.</p><p>Kāi gave Baekhyun a questioning look, and with a decisive nod—before he could lose his nerve—Baekhyun signaled he was ready.</p><p>The world faded from around them as Kāi stepped forward through time.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0013"><h2>13. Chapter 13</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Coming home was a strange feeling for Baekhyun. Kāi brought him back to his room in their home, but things were immediately different from what he remembered of his home.</p><p>For one, he hadn’t expected to find Baëkhyun waiting for him on his bed.</p><p>“Leave us,” he commanded Kāi, who made himself scarce with a pop of Baekhyun’s ears. His clone sized him up with those icy blue eyes. It felt like an age since he’d last seen them. “So, you’re back.”</p><p>“What do you want, Baëkhyun?”</p><p>“How was Yixing?”</p><p>“Baëkhyun, what do you want?”</p><p>Baëkhyun stalked closer, and Baekhyun noted the matching rapier at his waist, the twin to the one he carried. He looked like he’d come for a fight. “I want you to answer my question.”</p><p>He sighed, not backing down as Baëkhyun crowded into his space. “Yixing was fine. It was nice to see him again, after so many years.” He narrowed his eyes. “How did you know where I went?”</p><p>Baëkhyun’s mouth twisted into a sneer that was tinged with cruelty. “Jongin is much easier to break than Kāi.” He pressed Baekhyun up against a wall. “It only took me an hour to get the story out of him.”</p><p>Baekhyun searched his memories, using what he’d gotten from his past self to piece together how much his clone knew. Likely everything, if what he remembered was correct. He also remembered Prime telling Baëkhyun that even he was worthy of love, and of being treated gently.</p><p>Considering that, it wasn’t a surprise when Baëkhyun closed the distance between them. Altogether, it was a much softer kiss than anything Baekhyun had gotten from him before, and that more than anything made him return it, although there was still an edge to the kiss he would forever associate with Baëkhyun.</p><p>And then the memories of the trauma came rushing back—of every horrible, awful thing Baëkhyun had done to him to ‘understand him’ better—and Baekhyun shoved him away.</p><p>“I can’t,” he said, touching a finger to his bottom lip and finding blood there when he pulled away. “There’s too much bad between us.”</p><p>Baëkhyun’s expression closed off. “But the other you said—”</p><p>“I know what he said,” Baekhyun snapped back. “But there’s too much for me to let go of, Baëkhyun, I’m sorry. I can’t trust you like that.”</p><p>Baëkhyun lunged for him.</p><p>Baekhyun was only barely able to dance out of the way of the open-handed strike aimed at his ribs, one hand going to the hilt of his rapier.</p><p>Instead of coming after him, Baëkhyun stepped back and pulled his own rapier free. “I knew you wouldn’t care. I knew it would come to this.”</p><p>“And what has it come to,” Baekhyun replied, pulling his own rapier free. “Tell me.”</p><p>“It never mattered what I wanted!” He lunged, his rapier scraping against Baekhyun’s as he barely parried in time. “All you cared about was getting your precious Yixing back! I was never going to be enough.” He sliced a cut open on Baekhyun’s cheek, making him hiss.</p><p>“You were enough,” Baekhyun countered. “But not what I needed. No matter how hard we tried, we could never be enough for each other.”</p><p>“You didn’t give me a chance!” Baëkhyun shouted. “Not then, and not now!” A kick aimed at Baekhyun’s ribs caught him off guard, and he stumbled back and clutched at his side, trying to breathe through the sharp ache. “Why?”</p><p>“Because I’m broken!” Baekhyun yelled back, lunging forward with a flurry of strikes that made Baëkhyun give up several inches of ground. “I’m nothing but a shell of the Baekhyun you met without Yixing. There is nothing you could do to change that.”</p><p>“You’re not getting him back! Not even you can resurrect the dead, Baekhyun.” He overextended on his next thrust forward, and Baekhyun parried and flipped his sword from his hand.</p><p>Before he could recover, Baekhyun punched him across the mouth with the hilt of his rapier and followed that up with a brutal kick to Baëkhyun’s ribs. Baëkhyun collapsed to the floor, gasping for air. Baekhyun lunged at him, straddling his torso and pressing his knees to his biceps, keeping him pinned. In a fit of anger, he yanked the silver chain off his face and threw it aside.</p><p>“It’s done!” he shouted, defiant in the face of Baëkhyun’s sneer. “It’s finished.”</p><p>Silver hair fanned around his head like a halo, giving him an angelic look that was incongruous with the person Baekhyun knew his clone had become. Baëkhyun coughed weakly, his smile a patchwork of white and red. “If I’m going to die, it’s fitting that it’s by your hands.” His body started to lose opaqueness from underneath Baekhyun.</p><p>“I didn’t want it to end like this,” Baekhyun choked out, loosening his hold on Baëkhyun.</p><p>“It’s the only way,” Baëkhyun insisted, throwing out a hand and grabbing Baekhyun’s rapier, placing it in his hand. “We were never meant to exist. It’s a cursed life, and it’s nothing but pain, knowing we’re only fragmented aspects of people. Nobody will ever love us the way they love our better, more complete originals.” He pulled Baekhyun’s blade to his throat. “Do it. End it.”</p><p>For a split second, Baekhyun considered it. But then he noticed the way Baëkhyun’s body was beginning to lose substance. He dropped his rapier. “No, it doesn’t matter. The past is changing irrevocably, and you’re fading from existence.” He slid off Baëkhyun, rearranging them until he was holding his clone in his arms, meeting those glacial eyes, fracturing like ice under too much weight.</p><p>Baëkhyun clung to him, reaching up and stroking Baekhyun’s face with a hand stained red. “I love you, you know,” he coughed wetly.</p><p>“I know,” Baekhyun replied, blinking down at Baëkhyun through blurry vision. He could see the floor through Baëkhyun’s head, like he was nothing more than a lingering afterimage. “I know you do.”</p><p>“I’m s’tired,” he gurgled, his body going weightless in Baekhyun’s arms, lines of red light splintering across his face like ice finally breaking apart.</p><p>“You can rest now. It’s over,” Baekhyun choked through tears. </p><p>Baëkhyun faded away to nothing, and while he knew it meant his past-self had succeeded in stopping the event that led to the creation of the clones, the emptiness in his arms gave him acute pain. It felt like a piece of him had died—even if that piece had been so twisted by circumstances beyond their control.</p><p>“Baek? Baby?”</p><p>He gasped, hurriedly wiping the tears out of his eyes as he turned around. Yixing. Standing in the doorway like he’d never left.</p><p>The clones weren’t the only thing his past-self had managed to change.</p><p>“Xing?” He took a hesitant, stumbling step forward and reached out for him, half afraid Yixing would dissolve into nothing the moment he touched him. He looked different, the sides of his head shaved down while the longer strands on top were pulled back into a small ponytail. Baekhyun eagerly took in the details of his face, noting the small scar along his left cheekbone under his eye, the few wavy strands of hair that were left to hang over his right eye.</p><p>But his fingers touched real, solid skin, and with a choked cry he collapsed into Yixing’s waiting arms. Huge, gasping sobs shook him to his very core as he released years of repressed grief and pain, a relief so profound it took the strength from his legs.</p><p>He’d thought he wouldn’t survive it—being alone after falling for Yixing again in the past, his heart so open and raw he hadn’t known how he was going to survive his present alone and aching. But now…memories, new memories came flooding in. Of how they’d done it, how they’d changed their futures, against all odds.</p><p>Yixing took his weight effortlessly, like he always had, and as Baekhyun clung to him and cried, he felt his wounds healing. The cut on his cheek faded from a sharp sting to nothing, his aching ribs easing until each gasping breath no longer hurt.</p><p>“I’m here, baby,” Yixing whispered, pressing a kiss to Baekhyun’s hairline. “I’ve got you now.”</p><p>He clung, feeling their magic connect and swirl between them, his heart singing. “Do you remember everything?” he asked, once he could speak again. He could hardly believe it—that Yixing was <em>here,</em> mere minutes after he’d left him in the past, and that he got to <em>keep</em> him.</p><p>Yixing was <em>his</em>.</p><p>Yixing tilted his head to look at him. “You mean do I remember that you swapped places with your past self, and then when he came back we had really kinky sex with him?” Yixing pressed a kiss to Baekhyun’s forehead. “Yes, babe. I remember everything.”</p><p>Baekhyun chuckled and wiped at his eyes. “Do the others?”</p><p>Yixing shrugged. “They remember some things, but none as much as me. I think some things have faded for them.”</p><p>“I can’t believe the clones just...disappeared like that.”</p><p>“Clones?” Yixing gave him a puzzled look.</p><p>Baekhyun gaped at him. “Do you not...remember the clones?”</p><p>Yixing continued to stare at him blankly. “What are you talking about?”</p><p>He gaped like a fish out of water for a few seconds, until he remembered the way Baëkhyun had quite literally faded from existence. If he’d succeeded in the past—and his memories and Yixing standing in front of him indicated that he had—then the clones would have never been created, and therefore never existed.</p><p>He shouldn’t remember them either, but he did. Looking behind him, he spotted the chain he’d pulled from Baëkhyun’s face in the fight, glittering faintly under the halogen lights. He picked up the chain on the ground and held the delicate sliver in his hand for a moment, before looping it over his nose and behind his ears.</p><p>“What’s that?” Yixing asked, his fingers brushing over the tips of his ears as he traced the path of the chain.</p><p>“It’s what’s left of a part of me,” he answered, reaching up to lace his fingers with Yixing’s. “Come on, let’s go.”</p><p>Together, they left the ghosts of Baekhyun’s memories behind them.</p><p>*</p><p>Being back in his own time was strange. It took him almost a month to stop flinching when Jongin teleported near him, expecting Baëkhyun to be with him whenever he did, and it was weird to see everyone with different hair colors.</p><p>To see Junmyeon and Sehun, just beginning to deepen their bond, while Jongdae’s bright laughter followed anywhere Chanyeol and Kyungsoo were. Even Minseok, keeping a careful eye over everyone else despite their safety in Taemin’s bunker, smiled more often than Baekhyun would have expected.</p><p>Everyone was just so…happy</p><p>And so was he. The first week of his return, he barely left bed with Yixing, testing the endurance of his libido beyond anything they’d ever attempted before. If Yixing wasn’t in him, he was in Yixing, and once they were both too sore, they used hands and mouths. It was nearly unbearable to be separated from Yixing, and he didn’t seem to be complaining.</p><p>“Do you miss him?” Baekhyun asked him, pressing his fingers into the purpling marks he’d left on Yixing’s chest. “The other me?”</p><p>Yixing looked down his chest at Baekhyun. “Yes and no. I don’t miss you when you’re right here. It’s more like I catch flashes of who you become—who he was—in you, and it makes me excited for the future, and to experience the events that change you into who you are.” Yixing looked back up at the ceiling. “I’m not sure that made sense, but there you go.”</p><p>“Time travel sucks,” Baekhyun summed up, and then they were far too busy doing other things with their mouths to talk.</p><p> </p><p>By the time Baekhyun could leave Yixing’s side for long enough to talk to other people, it had been a week since future Baekhyun’s departure. It still didn’t feel like enough time for Baekhyun, who suspected he would never get enough of Yixing, but they did have important things to accomplish.</p><p>Starting with a meeting with everyone else.</p><p>“Baekhyun, are you limping?” Jongdae asked, eyebrows kipping up into his hair.</p><p>“No,” Baekhyun denied, trying to walk smoothly enough that he didn’t twinge his muscles the wrong way. He was very sore.</p><p>Yixing’s magic buzzed under his skin as Yixing brushed a hand across the small of his back, taking away the worst of the ache there.</p><p>“Let’s not get distracted, for once,” Junmyeon said, drawing the attention of the rest of the room. “We need to find a way of doing what the other Baekhyun said.”</p><p>“What, keeping Yixing alive?” Chanyeol scoffed. “Considering he hasn’t even left his room in a week, I think he’s pretty safe for now.”</p><p>“We can’t count on this place being safe forever,” Kyungsoo reasoned. “We will be found eventually.”</p><p>“What you need,” Taemin interrupted, chin on Jongin’s shoulder, “is a plan.”</p><p>“Wow, thank you so much for that input Taemin,” Baekhyun deadpanned.</p><p>Taemin flipped him off.</p><p>“He’s right,” Sehun added, standing behind the chair Junmyeon was seated in, hands on Junmyeon’s shoulders. “We need to do more than just hide.”</p><p>“Hell yeah,” Jongdae exclaimed, “let’s take the fight to them!”</p><p>Chanyeol pulled him back against his chest in an effort to contain his flailing limbs.</p><p>“We probably shouldn’t just, run into a fight head on,” Minseok reasoned. “No point in exposing ourselves to more danger than we need to be in.”</p><p>“I agree,” Yixing murmured. “The goal is to keep everyone alive for the next three years.”</p><p>“Well from what Kāi told us,” Jongin began, “we didn’t have Taemin’s help the first time around. Apparently this place is undetectable and the Red Force have never been able to find it.”</p><p>“That doesn’t mean they <em>couldn’t,”</em> Yixing reminded them. “Baekhyun talked a lot about how the events were escalating, likely because of a consequence of the swap. It’s possible they could find this place if we got sloppy.”</p><p>“You’re all welcome to stay here, of course,” Taemin interjected, “but if you blow my cover here I will never forgive any of you.” His smile suggested he wouldn’t mind holding a grudge, either.</p><p>“Then we’ll have to keep them looking in other places,” Junmyeon said decisively. “A game of cat and mouse everywhere else in the city to draw them away.”</p><p>“We could target their supply shipments, work on destabilizing their hold on the city as much as possible from the shadows,” Kyungsoo suggested. “In and out, as much damage as possible.”</p><p>“Full on gruella warfare,” Minseok concluded. “It could be done.”</p><p>Junmyeon looked around the room at all of them. “Are we agreed?”</p><p>Everyone voiced or nodded their agreement.</p><p>“Let’s choose our targets, then,” Baekhyun said as Taemin walked over to his computers and pulled up various maps of the city. “We have a regime to topple.”</p><p> </p><p>It took them a week of meticulous planning before their first four targets were picked. Small depots and warehouses on the outskirts of the city that held stockpiles of supplies that would start to compromise the Red Force’s hold on the city. Anything valuable or useful they’d distribute to the citizens when they could, the rest would go up in smoke.</p><p>The first two hits were easy. In and out with nobody the wiser until billowing smoke from Chanyeol’s fires alerted emergency services. They ran into trouble at the third location.</p><p>They must have timed it wrong, because instead of the warehouse being empty, there was a fully armed squadron of Red Force soldiers on the other side of the doors. At least thirty of them.</p><p>“Whelp,” Jongdae quipped, electricity zipping up his arms in blue sparks, “looks like we get a fight tonight.”</p><p>They all fanned out, Baekhyun running and ducking behind a crate of what seemed to be medical supplies, Yixing at his side like always, the rest of the team finding cover as the squadron opened fire.</p><p>Minseok and Chanyeol worked on taking out troops with their abilities, Sehun using his shields of air to keep bullets away from anyone that was in the line of fire from his position behind a crate to Baekhyun’s right. Jongdae and Kyungsoo were working in eerie tandem to flank the squadron.</p><p>As Baekhyun watched, Kyungsoo sent three troops floating toward the ceiling where Jongdae’s mobile lighting storm struck them, all three going limp as electricity surged. Junmyeon was standing further back with Sehun, using his ability to add more ammunition to Minseok’s ice daggers, or wet the floor so Minseok could turn the ground under the squadron into a skating rink.</p><p>“Wow, other me wasn’t kidding when he mentioned he’d been teaching you guys.” He outright gaped when Chanyeol sent a tornado of fire to a group of four soldiers keeping Jongdae pinned behind a crate with gunfire.</p><p>“They’re quite skilled,” Yixing agreed, ducking away from a stray bullet.</p><p>Kyungsoo launched a yelling Jongdae in the air, his body alight with electricity, letting it ricochet between a group of five, hovering like some vengeful son of Zeus.</p><p>“You know what, Baekhyun?” Chanyeol called as he ran past, drenched in fire up to his shoulders. “I’m getting real tired of this shit.”</p><p>Baekhyun’s laugh sounded maniacal to his own ears. He worked on bending the light around Jongin as he moved from place to place, trying to keep him hidden from sight as much as possible. He didn’t have enough control yet, but he was able to make Jongin’s form waver like a mirage, which was disorienting to look at the very least.</p><p>“Next time,” Junmyeon grunted, sending a spear of water hurtling toward a soldier’s chest. Minseok froze it in place right before it impacted, skewering the soldier. “We do recon <em>before</em> breaking the door down.”</p><p>“Isn’t the surprise kind of fun though?” Jongin asked him, popping into existence at his side as he breathed for a moment, chest heaving. Junmyeon bubbled water for him to swallow with a grateful smile. “Keeps us on our toes.”</p><p>“Not if we end up dead!” Sehun protested, reaching his hand out toward an advancing soldier and yanking it back. The soldier clutched at his throat, gasping for air as Sehun stole it from his lungs.</p><p>“Find us a way out of this kill box,” Junmyeon ordered Jongin before he vanished again. Jongin nodded once, then zipped around the warehouse. It was all Baekhyun could do to keep him shielded as he jumped from place to place.</p><p>In the time it took Jongin to find an exit, the rest of the team had managed to reduce the number of soldiers down to a very manageable ten, with Chanyeol and Minseok easily picking off anyone who got too close. Sehun’s shields of air were holding, keeping them safe from any stray bullets, and Kyungsoo focused hard enough to keep any soldiers who wanted to advance too heavy to get very far.</p><p>“Aren’t they incredible?” Yixing murmured, the hand on Baekhyun’s shoulder channeling power into him, helping him bend light. “You taught them how to do this.”</p><p>He let pride well up inside him. “Technically, future me did.”</p><p>“Nuance,” Yixing replied, as Jongin yanked a large door open and whistled sharply at the rest of the team, who were picking off the remaining stragglers. “Let’s get out of here.”</p><p>Baekhyun took his hand and together they ran.</p><p> </p><p>“How do we know when we’ve done enough?” Jongin wondered, one night once they’d returned to Taemin’s bunker. He had his head in Taemin’s lap, the rest of him stretched out over the slightly ratty couch.</p><p>Baekhyun looked up from where he was watching Yixing knit the skin of Minseok’s cheek back together. Minseok had been grazed by a stray bullet in their latest skirmish, but so far they’d had very few injuries. “I don’t know, really. My future self said that once a month or two had passed since he left, we should be okay. That was nearly three weeks ago.”</p><p>Jongdae, Kyungsoo and Chanyeol had disappeared once they’d returned, Jongdae handsy in the way he got after a fight, but Junmyeon and Sehun were also in the room, working on a protein pack each and murmuring quietly to each other where they were curled up in an armchair together.</p><p>“Maybe we should slow down on the raids, then,” Minseok suggested, Yixing tutting at him as talking made his cheek move.</p><p>“We’ve started to draw a lot of attention,” Jongin agreed. “We could use the rest, too. We’ve been moving non-stop since the other Baekhyun left. Why don’t we lay low for a week before we pick it back up?”</p><p>“Junmyeon?” Baekhyun asked, pulling Junmyeon’s attention into the conversation. At Junmyeon’s questioning noise, he caught him up on the conversation. “What do you think about laying low for a week to rest and recharge before another wave of raids?”</p><p>Junmyeon considered it. “As long as Taemin thinks we’re safe to stay here, I think it’s a good idea. We could all use the break.”</p><p>They all turned to look at Taemin, who was running small hands through Jongin’s silver locks. “You’ve been careful to make them think you’re holed up somewhere on the other side of the city, so it should be safe to stay hidden here.”</p><p>“Then it’s decided,” Baekhyun concluded, standing as Yixing finished healing Minseok. “A week of rest and planning, then we resume.”</p><p>“I’ll make sure the other three know,” Minseok volunteered.</p><p>Sehun grimaced. “Maybe wait an hour, if you don’t want to walk in on something you’d rather not see.”</p><p>“Maybe I’ll join them,” Minseok teased, a playful twinkle in his large eyes.</p><p>Junmyeon’s gaze sharpened as he looked at Minseok, turning considering in nature. Baekhyun felt it was time he and Yixing leave the room.</p><p>He grabbed Yixing’s hand, pulling him down the hall towards their own bedroom. Jongdae wasn’t the only one with extra energy to burn after a fight.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0014"><h2>14. Chapter 14</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>His team’s reactions to seeing him was not what Baekhyun expected, all things considered. For one thing, Kyungsoo and Minseok were waiting with the others in the sparring room where the team had gathered at Yixing’s request.</p><p>Kyungsoo had his hair shaved down so short he was nearly bald, but it was a good look, if not a little jarring. It made him look even more intimidating than he was normally. And Minseok...Baekhyun did a double take.</p><p>Minseok’s hair was buzzed down on the sides like Yixing’s, the roots of his hair black that bled into navy blue by the tips, hanging in his eyes. He was decked out in the form-fitting jumpsuits the rest of them wore, but somehow he made it look more badass than the rest of them.</p><p>Baekhyun ran toward them when he saw them, hugging first Minseok and then Kyungsoo. “You’re alive!” he exclaimed, far more excited than he probably would have been outwardly had he not spent nearly two months being softened up by Yixing.</p><p>Minseok quirked an eyebrow at him, highlighting the clean slice through the arch of his right eyebrow. “Of course we are?” He and Kyungsoo looked at each other in confusion. “Why wouldn’t we be?”</p><p>“They don’t remember anything,” Yixing murmured behind him. “For everyone but us they were never dead. I’m the only one who remembers anything was different.”</p><p>Baekhyun backed away slightly, smiling at their bemused expressions. “I’m just happy to see you, that’s all.”</p><p>“Okay weirdo,” Jongdae said, coming forward. “Stop hugging my boyfriend, you already have one of your own.”</p><p>Baekhyun stuck his tongue out at Jongdae but released Kyungsoo all the same.</p><p>“What’s up, Yixing?” Junmyeon asked, his red hair vibrant against Sehun’s black shirt.</p><p>“How do you feel about getting rid of the Red Force once and for all?” Baekhyun asked, in answer to Junmyeon’s question.</p><p>“I’d say it’s about damn time,” Chanyeol replied. “We’ve only been waiting to do so for the last three years.”</p><p>“It will be dangerous,” Yixing cautioned, always the voice of reason. “We might not all make it out.”</p><p>Baekhyun held his tongue. Now was not the time to mention the reincarnation cycles. Or the cost of his plan.</p><p>“Like that’s ever stopped us before,” Jongin argued. “Half the time our plans don’t extend beyond kicking down the door and attacking whatever is on the other side.”</p><p>“Plus, over the years we’ve done a lot to undermine their control over the city, making them weaker than they were three years ago,” Minseok added. “Your plans worked then, why wouldn’t we follow them now?”</p><p>Baekhyun still couldn’t believe that he’d succeeded in the past, never mind that he’d maintained such a deep trust with his team. “You’re really ready to stage a coup on my word alone?”</p><p>“I mean, the Red Force has tried to kill each of us at least a dozen times,” Chanyeol said, “so yeah. Pretty much.”</p><p>Baekhyun’s eyes started to sting. Yixing’s arm came around his shoulders, pulling him against the warmth of his side, their magic humming in tandem, tangling between them. Oh, how he’d missed that feeling. “Well,” he started, throat thick, “we can’t just charge in this time and hope for the best. We’ll need to do some serious planning.”</p><p>Jongin cleared his throat and stepped forward. “I figured the day would come when you’d say something like that.” He went to the corner of the room where a rolled up piece of paper was sitting. As he stepped in the middle of the room and started to unroll it, Baekhyun could see that it was actually several sheets of paper, all large and covered in drawings—blueprints. “Taemin and I have slowly been casing out the Red Force headquarters in the center of the capitol for the last year. We’ve had to do small trips, with me taking him into a new part of the building each time, which is why the process has taken so long. He nearly got caught a few times before I could get us both out.”</p><p>“Jongin this is incredible,” Baekhyun breathed, tracing his fingers over the detailed sketches of the building. Off to the side were lists of guard rotations, and which floors were more heavily guarded. “I can’t believe you two managed to pull this off.”</p><p>Jongin shrugged. “Taemin is sneaky and small, and I can have us in and out in a heartbeat. Once we found a routine, it wasn’t that hard.”</p><p>“Still,” Junmyeon insisted, leaning over Jongin’s shoulder. “This is an impressive amount of work.” He shifted his gaze to Baekhyun. “Is this detailed enough to get us started?”</p><p>Baekhyun rifled through the sheets, one for each level of the building. A brief scan didn’t show a room that was big enough to hold what he was looking for. “Were there any levels you couldn’t get into?” he asked Jongin, frowning. If it wasn’t there, then the last three years of planning were going to go to waste.</p><p>Jongin hummed. “Yeah, actually. We could never get into the lower level. I didn’t have enough of a mental picture to teleport us directly down, and the security was too tight for Taemin to get past. Whatever is down there, they don’t want anyone to find it.”</p><p>“That’s where we need to get,” Baekhyun concluded. He spread out the blueprints across the floor, shooing people away so he had enough room. “Now, let’s figure out how we’re going to get there.”</p><p> </p><p>It took them four days to plan their infiltration of the Red Force headquarters, with Jongin bringing Taemin over from whatever bunker he’d holed himself in lately to help them plan the logistics since he was the only one of them to have been in the building itself. Once they’d all memorized the guard rotations and layouts, they spent two days running drills to move across a certain distance while guards didn’t have vision, relying on Jongdae to fritz out any surveillance they might have, and Minseok and Chanyeol covering their flank. Jongin would work on scouting ahead to alert them of any changes in guard rotations or personnel they hadn’t known about.</p><p>By the seventh day of work, they were a well-oiled team prepared for stealth.</p><p>“But how do we get in?” Kyungsoo asked, making them all pause. “We know what to do once we get in the front doors, but it’s not like we can just walk in unnoticed.”</p><p>“Shit.” Baekhyun sat down. Right on the concrete floor. It felt appropriate.</p><p>“Wait a minute,” Junmyeon started, “we’re smarter than this. How did this happen?”</p><p>“How did we not figure out how we were going to get <em>in?”</em> Minseok asked, shock clear on his face.</p><p>Baekhyun thought for a long minute while the room dissolved into chaos around him, staring blankly at Yixing and scraping the inside of his brain for ideas. Yixing’s thumb was rubbing small circles on his ankle from where he was gripping it, sitting next to him on the concrete. These days, Yixing was glued to his hip, something Baekhyun was forever grateful for.</p><p>Finally, he said, “Chanyeol, how big can your fire get these days?”</p><p>Chanyeol broke away from arguing with Jongdae. “Uh, pretty big. Like if I had an hour or two to spiral down into my power I could probably make a blast that would hit three stories.”</p><p>Baekhyun snapped his fingers. “Great. You’re our diversion. Jongin will move you far enough away to draw them out but close enough to force them to respond to the threat, and then when they’ve moved out he’ll bring you back and all of us in the building.” He looked to Jongin. “Think you can do it?”</p><p>To his credit, Jongin didn’t immediately reply, and Baekhyun was reminded that Jongin had come a long way from the eager-to-please boy who would jump without looking at Baekhyun’s word, and grown into a steady, thoughtful man. “Yeah, I think so. I’ll be tired after that and probably only good for one more jump with us all out of the building, so once we’re in it’s up to the rest of you to get us through. No shortcuts with my powers.”</p><p>Baekhyun nodded. He’d expected as much. “Now all that’s left is to decide when we go.”</p><p>“Day after tomorrow?” Yixing suggested. “That would give everyone a chance to rest and recharge, dig into their power in preparation for a while before we go.”</p><p>“What say you?” Baekhyun looked at the rest of the team, who were giving him various signs of agreement. Kyungsoo and Minseok voicing their agreements with stone-faced thumbs up.</p><p>“Okay then,” Junmyeon said, clapping his hands once. “Let’s call it a day and head to bed.”</p><p>Yixing stood, reaching out a hand to help Baekhyun to his feet, and they chatted with the others and said goodnight before heading to the kitchen in wordless agreement for some nutripacks before heading to their room.</p><p>“Are you worried?” Yixing asked, once they had eaten and gotten ready for bed, curled up together under the coarse blankets.</p><p>“No,” Baekhyun lied.</p><p>“Liar,” Yixing replied. “You always forget I can hear your heartbeat alongside my own when we’re close like this. I know what your heart sounds like when you lie.”</p><p>Damn. “I’m a little nervous. Not for getting in; I trust our team and I know what they can do. I’m worried about what we do when we make it to the lower level and what we’ll find.”</p><p>“You’re hoping we’ll find the tree?”</p><p>Baekhyun inhaled sharply.</p><p>“I can read too, you know. And you left your translations in the margins or shoved between the pages,” Yixing said, answering his unspoken question. “I know about the tree, and our role in protecting it.”</p><p>Baekhyun rolled over, skimming off the top of his reserves to sprinkle lights in the air around them so he could see Yixing’s face. In the back of his mind he spiraled, deeper and deeper. “Then you know what we have to do to save it? What it will take to bring down the Red Force?” Nerves and despair tangled in his stomach. If Yixing knew, he wasn’t sure he would be able to go through with it—wasn’t sure he would be able to sacrifice what he needed to in order to be successful.</p><p>“I didn’t get that far,” Yixing smiled sheepishly. “It’s kinda dense, and even with your scattered translations on the text it’s hard to understand.”</p><p>Baekhyun had to exert immense effort not to exhale audibly. Relief crashed through him. “It’s okay. I know how to bring them down, and that’s all that matters.”</p><p>“Why?”</p><p>“Because it has to be me,” Baekhyun answered, walking the line between truth and lie so, so carefully. “My power is the only thing that can undo what the Red Force has done to bind the tree, if my estimations are correct.”</p><p>“None of us can help?” He brushed a tender hand across Baekhyun’s cheek. “I hate knowing you must bear this burden alone.”</p><p>Baekhyun nuzzled into his hand. “But I’m not alone. I have you to support me the whole way, and the others will need to use their powers to get us through the building. They won’t be strong enough for what this will take.”</p><p>Yixing kissed the tip of Baekhyun’s nose. “Is that why you haven’t used your powers at all in the last week?”</p><p>“Uh, excuse me, what is lighting this room right now?” he replied, full of cheek. Yixing tickled him for his snark.</p><p>“You know I mean how you haven’t shown any major displays in a while.”</p><p>“I’ve only been using enough to take the strain off. I’ve been spiraling for a while now.”</p><p>Yixing quirked an eyebrow. “Just how deep is your reservoir?”</p><p>“Oh, pretty deep,” Baekhyun shrugged, playing it off. He scooched closer, nosing in to kiss Yixing. “Now, let’s not waste our last nights together, hmm?”</p><p>“I’ve noticed a pattern of you distracting me with sex when you don’t want to talk about something anymore,” Yixing remarked, dimples peeking out as he smiled at Baekhyun, kissing the tip of his nose.</p><p>“I don’t hear you complaining,” Baekhyun replied, rolling Yixing onto his back and sliding their bodies together. He kissed Yixing, so full of love he could taste it as their lips slid together. There were moments like this when he felt like he loved Yixing so much he could barely breathe when they were together, the feelings taking up every ounce of empty space behind his ribs.</p><p>Yixing trailed his fingers up the line of Baekhyun’s spine, making him arch and whine into the kiss. “How could I complain when this is the result,” Yixing whispered, his other hand cupping Baekhyun’s jaw and pulling him back in. “Now let me make this night worth remembering,” he all but purred, nipping at Baekhyun’s bottom lip.</p><p>Baekhyun went limp against him and surrendered to the love.  </p><p>*</p><p>Like his future self had instructed, Baekhyun spent the next two years alternating between planning raids on the Red Force, doing everything the team could think of to sabotage their hold over the city, keeping Yixing, Kyungsoo and Minseok safe and alive, and jumping between place after place to keep the Red Force from finding where they were.</p><p>It was stressful, but they had each other, and that’s all that mattered in the end, even if they had to hole up in dirty warehouses for a few days until they were safe. And if sometimes Baekhyun stared up at the red moon and wondered if he would really be able to save the world, that could stay between him and the moon.</p><p>And Yixing, who was privy to his thoughts as always.</p><p>“Hey, Chanyeol found these books in one of the crates we got from the latest raid,” Yixing said, interrupting his thoughts and joining him at the back wall of the warehouse in staring up at the moon through the dirt-streaked windowpane. “Based on what you’ve told me in the past, I thought you might want to take a look at them.”</p><p>He eagerly reached for the books Yixing held out to him, sighing when he recognized the soft leather of the covers. Flipping the books open confirmed his thoughts, and Yixing peered over his shoulder as he started skimming them.</p><p>“What’s in them? What kind of language is that?”</p><p>“They’re the key to who we are and our powers,” Baekhyun explained. “And I don’t know what language it is, but thanks to my stint in the future, I already know how to translate it.” He smiled over his shoulder at Yixing. “Thank you, baby. This is exactly what we need.”</p><p>Yixing shrugged. “No thanks needed. Glad I could help.” He kissed the skin just behind Baekhyun’s ear. “I can see you’re eager to dive in, so I’ll let you read. Come find me when you need a break.”</p><p>Baekhyun spun around and hugged him. “Thank you, baby.” He settled down against the wall, setting the books at his side and opening the first one. He barely registered Yixing walking away. The universe was sending sign after sign, and he had work to do.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0015"><h2>15. Chapter 15</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>“Everyone remembers the plan?” Baekhyun asked. They were all crouched behind a building as close to the Red Force headquarters as they could get without being spotted by the many guards patrolling the area around it.</p><p>“Get in, blow shit up, get out,” Jongdae replied.</p><p>“We remember,” Junmyeon answered, shooting Jongdae a look. “We’re ready.”</p><p>Baekhyun looked to Jongin for confirmation, getting a nod in return. “Okay, let’s go then.”</p><p>Jongin disappeared with Chanyeol, returning five minutes later just as an explosion a few blocks in the opposite direction of them rolled through the city, a column of fire lighting up the sky. Baekhyun could hear shouting, the soldiers rushing around the streets next to them. At his signal, everyone linked hands and gathered around Jongin, who held Taemin against him and reached out for Baekhyun. Their hands connected, Jongin took a deep breath, and then they were all huddled in the dead end of a clinically white hallway. Jongin released his hand and slumped against Taemin, panting heavily.</p><p>“Okay,” Baekhyun whispered, “Taemin lead us down. Jongin you bring up the rear with Minseok and Chanyeol while you recover, everyone else around Taemin, let’s be quick and quiet.”</p><p>They encountered far less resistance than Baekhyun anticipated. Their diversion must have worked better than they’d planned, because except for a few guards on patrol and the occasional layman, they met with very few problems Jongdae or Kyungsoo couldn’t dispatch easily.</p><p>“This is it,” Taemin murmured, indicating the elevator at the end of the hall. “It only goes down, and I was never able to get the right code to activate it.”</p><p>Baekhyun stepped aside, feeling Yixing’s hand brush his waist. “Jongdae, I think this is you.”</p><p>Jongdae approached the elevator panel, fingers sparking. “Give me a minute.”</p><p>It took him four seconds to have the elevator doors sliding open with a ding. Getting all ten of them inside was a bit of a squeeze, and then Kyungsoo was pulling the elevator down to the bottom, Jongdae opening the doors again once they’d reached the end of the ropes.</p><p>A squad of twenty soldiers was waiting on the other side, guns pointed at them. “Sehun!” Baekhyun yelled, Sehun acting just in time to snap a shield of compressed air in front of them before bullets started flying.</p><p>Junmyeon and Minseok stepped forward, working in tandem to send water into their guns and shatter them apart as ice expanded the metal. The rest of them spilled out, abilities at their fingertips, and between Chanyeol, Jongdae, Kyungsoo and Taemin’s knives, the soldiers didn’t last long.</p><p>Sehun kicked at a prone guard with his boot as he walked past. “You’d think they would have learned by now that they need more than that to take us down.”</p><p>Baekhyun didn’t hear Junmyeon’s reply to Sehun, or anything else that was said. His attention was taken up by the glorious, glowing tree in the middle of the spare white room. Somehow, he hadn’t really expected to find it here, despite everything he’d said.</p><p>“Is that it?” Yixing whispered at his back.</p><p>“Mmhmm.”</p><p>“Is it supposed to be surrounded by that giant red cube and dying?”</p><p>“Nope.”</p><p>“Hmmm.”</p><p>They studied the tree together. “What should we do?” Yixing eventually asked. Baekhyun became aware that the rest of the group was with them, staring up at the giant tree in awe and horror.</p><p>Baekhyun knew what needed to be done. Before he could speak, the elevator doors slid open with a muted ping, more soldiers spilling into the room looking for a fight. “Cover me!” he ordered, running to stand before the cube and its pulsing red light, straining to see the tree locked away behind those vermillion walls. He felt his entire team obey, covering his back in a wide semi-circle, bright spots of power in his awareness.</p><p>“How are we gonna break through that?” Jongdae asked, looking over his shoulder at the crimson monstrosity.</p><p>“With my power,” Baekhyun answered, pushing his sleeves up and turning to kiss Yixing once, deeply, before setting his mind to the task before him.</p><p>It was up to him. It always had been.</p><p>He closed his eyes and took two deep breaths. The slow, steady descent into his power stopped in this moment, the spiral halting, then reversing. As his awareness rose, so did his power. Faster and faster he urged it, despite the drag of so much power, raising his hands palm out toward the cube. He braced his body, stance wide, knees bent. Dimly, he registered Junmyeon ordering the others as they engaged the soldiers.</p><p>He pulled <em>up, </em>yanking his power to the surface with incredible effort, grunting as the immense weight of it tested his mental strength. But he was unstoppable, a star hurtling through the empty space of his mind, his power a comet behind him as he brought that gargantuan abyss roaring to the surface.</p><p>Light so hot it burned burst from his palms to hit the cube, beams of refracted light scattering from the reflective surface, the room dancing with prismatic rainbows. Sounds of gunfire ceased behind him, either because the team had taken care of them or they were stunned by the sight, he didn’t care.</p><p>Baekhyun screamed as his power ripped from him with a roar, the beast finally freed after months of Baekhyun suppressing it, both hands extended toward the heart of the Red Force base as a steady beam of pure starlight shot forth.</p><p>“My God,” Chanyeol whispered, somewhere behind Baekhyun. “It’s not light—it’s starlight.”</p><p>The cube, the center of the Red Force’s power, started to lighten from the deep, insidious red to pink. Yixing came up behind him and placed his hands on Baekhyun’s hips. Baekhyun gasped as a second well of power appeared, the dragon inside him eagerly drawing from the power freely offered. The beam of white light turned blue as his power increased, burning so intensely he could feel his skin starting to singe from the blowback. Yixing held him close, trying to feed the immense demand of his power and keep Baekhyun’s body from flying apart under the strain.</p><p>All Baekhyun could see was blue, the starlight still pouring from his hands in an unending torrent, until all he knew was heat and pain and the light of a thousand stars. Before him, the cube lightened further, and he poured everything he had left into the beam, tears of pain slipping from his eyes only to immediately evaporate in the heat surrounding him.</p><p>“I love you,” Yixing whispered in Baekhyun’s ear, barely audible over his broken cries of pain. Yixing’s arms fell away from his waist.</p><p>Yixing was spent, his reserves fading away. It was going to take <em>every</em> ounce of power Baekhyun had, and he was glad he’d been spiraling into his power for months, preparing for this very moment when he’d need one, explosive blast.</p><p>He poured everything he had left into the cube, watching through burning, blurry eyes as the last of the pink faded from the cube. The last of Baekhyun’s power flickered out, the cube around the tree now completely transparent, spiderwebbing before the whole thing shattered apart, glass flying everywhere. He barely noticed the wall of compressed air Sehun threw up between them and the glass, keeping the worst of it from hitting them.</p><p>They’d done it.</p><p>The tree seemed to stretch, its branches unfurling under the newfound freedom, no longer imprisoned.</p><p>“We did it!” Baekhyun cried, his voice scratchy and raw from screaming. Every breath he took felt like steel wool scrubbing his lungs raw. He turned around to kiss Yixing, flush with success and the fact that they were <em>alive,</em> and froze in place instead.</p><p>Yixing was on the ground, limbs splayed, a faint smile on his face.</p><p>For a long, agonizing moment, nobody moved. Baekhyun rushed to his side first.</p><p>“No, no no <em>no,”</em> he moaned, pressing a hand to Yixing’s chest. There was no spark, no answer to the feeble tendril of power he still had. No familiar beat under his hand. “Yixing, don’t do this, <em>please!”</em></p><p>But Yixing wasn’t moving.</p><p>Wasn’t breathing.</p><p>He felt the burn of tears streaking down his face, falling to land on Yixing’s unmoving face. “Baby, <em>please,</em> wake up,” he sobbed, cupping Yixing’s face with shaking hands. “Come back to me.”</p><p>Baekhyun looked up at the others, gathered around them. “Someone <em>help him.”</em></p><p>“It’s been too long, Baekhyun,” Junmyeon said gently. “He fell before you were done.”</p><p>“Why didn’t you<em> do something?”</em> he cried, clutching at Yixing’s shirt.</p><p>“None of us could get close enough, not even Chanyeol,” Minseok explained calmly, a single tear streaking down his cheek. “It was too hot. Yixing could only stand it because of his power.”</p><p>“Jongdae,” Baekhyun begged, turning to look at him. “Shock his heart, please. Bring him back.”</p><p>Jongdae sniffed, tears spilling down his cheeks, Kyungsoo’s arm around his waist. “Baek, there’s no spark left. He’s gone. I can’t feel anything to restart.”</p><p><em>“No,”</em> Baekhyun wailed, “I refuse to accept that.”</p><p>Junmyeon reached out for him, red hair like a warning. “Baek…”</p><p><em>“Give him back!”</em> Baekhyun screamed, looking up at the sky. “You don’t get to take him from me! Not again!” He sobbed, clinging to Yixing. “You owe me this!”</p><p>Resounding, devastating silence.</p><p>“I did <em>everything</em> to save the universe. Let me have him back!”</p><p>His blurry gaze fell on the tree. The <em>tree.</em> With a gasp that was more a sob, he got to his feet and started to drag Yixing’s spent body to the roots of the tree, laying him to rest beneath the boughs that were still stretching and growing in newfound freedom. He collapsed to the ground next to Yixing’s body, his own barely holding together, pain lancing through his bones.</p><p>“Please,” he cried, blinking up at the branches. “Save him.”</p><p>The branches swayed.</p><p><em>“Anything,” </em>Baekhyun pleaded.</p><p>Words filtered into his mind, as soft as a summer breeze. <em>Don’t cry, little star. All will be well.</em></p><p>“No,” he moaned. “Not without him.”</p><p>
  <em>There is a way, a sacrifice long since given, to be repaid here. Do you accept?</em>
</p><p>“Yes, I accept,” Baekhyun gasped, choking on his own tears. “Anything.”</p><p>
  <em>The life force of the three since lost to you, to be found in your next life. They agree to give up their reincarnation cycle for him this time. You will not see them in the next life. Only after two cycles will nine become twelve once more, as is needed. Knowing this, do you still accept?</em>
</p><p>“It is freely given? Their gift?”</p><p>The branches above him swayed. <em>Yes.</em></p><p>To condemn three of his brothers to another cycle of waiting seemed harsh, but if they were willing… “I accept,” he whispered.</p><p>A branch unfurled above them, three flowers blooming and detaching to float slowly down until they came to rest on Yixing’s chest in a triskelion. They stayed there for a moment, then sank right into his chest, with a flash of pure white light.</p><p>Yixing gasped, eyes snapping open.</p><p>Baekhyun sobbed anew.</p><p>“Baby,” Yixing whispered, slowly lifting a hand to wipe at the tears streaking down Baekhyun’s cheek, “why are you crying?”</p><p>“You self-sacrificing bastard,” Baekhyun choked, throat tight and barely able to see Yixing’s faint smile through his blurry vision. “Why did you do that?”</p><p>“In my defense,” Yixing rasped, “I didn’t know I was going to die.”</p><p>Baekhyun hit him on the arm. “I’m so mad at you.”</p><p>Yixing pulled him in and kissed him gently. “You needed my power. Everything I have will always be yours.”</p><p>“You aren’t allowed to <em>die.”</em> Baekhyun sniffed, wiping at his nose and trying to calm his shuddery breathing. He looked up to see everyone hovering around where they were sprawled beneath the tree, concern and tears on everyone’s faces. “I refuse.”</p><p>“Only Baekhyun could challenge the universe like that and get away with it,” Jongdae said, relief all over his face.</p><p>Junmyeon crouched down next to him. “Can you two move?”</p><p>“Yeah, not to like, cut this touching moment short,” Taemin interrupted, “but now what?”</p><p>“We need to move before we have more soldiers crawling up our ass,” Chanyeol said as Junmyeon helped Baekhyun to his feet.</p><p>Baekhyun reached back down, helping Yixing up. He couldn’t stop clinging to him, wrapping his arms around his waist. Yixing returned his embrace, leaning on Baekhyun for support as he swayed slightly.</p><p>“What about the tree?” Sehun asked, gazing up into the branches.</p><p>Baekhyun looked over his shoulder at the branches, wondering the same thing. “We can’t leave it here.”</p><p>“How the hell are we supposed to get a giant tree out of this building?” Jongin questioned, standing behind Taemin. “It’s not like I can take it out with us.”</p><p>Reluctantly, Baekhyun stepped away from Yixing, gesturing to Junmyeon to take his place as a support. He could feel the tree calling to him, tugging at something deep within, so he reached out and placed his hand on the trunk, feeling the rough bark beneath his fingertips. A feeling of warmth and comfort rushed through him.</p><p>A single branch stretched down next to him, a single acorn attached on the end of the limb that was the size of his palm. As soon as Baekhyun plucked the acorn from the tree, it began to wither, the acorn in his hand glowing slightly and warm to the touch.</p><p>“I think we can go now,” he whispered, stepping back until he was pressed against Yixing.</p><p>“What’s it like holding the universe in your hand?” Yixing murmured as the others gathered around them.</p><p>“Comforting,” Baekhyun replied, smiling at him.</p><p>“You two have a lot of explaining to do once we’re safe,” Junmyeon warned.</p><p>They all reached for Jongin, who moved into the middle of their little circle. “Let’s get out of here,” he said.</p><p>Baekhyun closed his fingers tight around the acorn and let his eyes slip shut as exhaustion and the huge drain of his power gripped him and pulled him away from consciousness.</p><p> </p><p>The world came back to him in slow, steady increments. He was warm, and the blankets over him were heavy, giving him a feeling of safety. Only the persistent insistence that something was amiss had him rising up through layers of sleep.</p><p>“I can feel you’re awake, you know,” Yixing rumbled against his back, pressed up behind him. Baekhyun became aware, very suddenly, that Yixing's arm around him was a large reason why he felt so safe.</p><p>He curled up slightly, then stretched out, tensing and releasing muscles fuzzy with sleep. “I had the worst dream that you died,” he rasped, the sound of his voice surprising him. He must have slept <em>hard</em> to sound so unused. He rolled around, pressing a kiss to Yixing's lips before nuzzling into his neck. The warmth of Yixing's embrace lulled his eyes shut, body loose and relaxed against him.</p><p>“I did die. That wasn’t a dream.”</p><p>Baekhyun’s eyes snapped open, and everything rushed back. He recognized the grey walls of Taemin’s bunker, the room he shared with Yixing in the past comforting to his disoriented senses. His heart started pounding, his chest feeling tight, and he pushed himself up and away from Yixing, looking him over for any injury or proof that he wasn’t there.</p><p>“It’s okay,” Yixing soothed. “You made some kind of cosmic deal with the universe and forced it to give me back. I’m fine.”</p><p>“I—I” he didn’t even know where to begin. He blinked and watched as a few tears fell to land on Yixing's bare skin. Yixing reached up to brush the wetness from his face, smiling up at him, dimples popping out to say hello too.</p><p>“You’ve cried enough, my love,” Yixing whispered. “We can be happy now. The world is safe.”</p><p>Baekhyun collapsed onto Yixing's chest, unable to do anything but rest against him and listen to the sound of his heart, steady and strong beneath his ear as he controlled his own breathing and slowly calmed down. “How long has it been?”</p><p>“Since you saved the world?” Yixing pressed a kiss to Baekhyun’s forehead. “A day and a half.”</p><p>Baekhyun nearly bolted upright again. Yixing's arms kept him tight to his chest, turning Baekhyun’s movements into an awkward flail. “Was I asleep?” He looked up at Yixing. “How did I sleep that long?”</p><p>Yixing brushed his hair away from his forehead. “I had you in a healing sleep. I kept you under so your body could rest. You were so injured, your body needed uninterrupted healing.”</p><p>That would explain why he felt like he hadn’t moved in ten years. His muscles felt stiff, joints cracking and groaning every time he shifted. “Everyone else?”</p><p>Yixing stroked his ear tenderly. “Everyone is fine. Jongin got us all out and then we made our way back here to Taemin’s bunker. We took turns carrying you, but mostly Chanyeol and Sehun did.” He pressed a finger to Baekhyun’s lips when he opened his mouth to ask more questions. “Let me finish before you ask more. As soon as we got out, the building sort of seemed to collapse in on itself, and it leveled the block.” He smiled at Baekhyun’s awed expression. “Whatever you did to that cube in there seemed to have destabilized the whole building. Or maybe it was the tree dying.</p><p>“Either way, we watched as the people came out in droves to tear apart everything that remained. They were shooting Red Force drones out of the sky, throwing rocks at their troops.” He pressed a smile to the skin of Baekhyun’s neck. “We did it, basically.”</p><p>“So, you’re saying…we started a revolution?” Baekhyun wondered, clutching Yixing close and laughing slightly, his voice cracking around the sound.</p><p>“You did, baby,” Yixing corrected, pressing in for a kiss. “I knew all that power wasn’t for nothing.”</p><p>“Oh.” Baekhyun hadn’t realized until Yixing said something, but he couldn’t feel the normal buzz between them. He turned his gaze inward, searching for that endless void of power within him. He didn’t find it. His inner landscape had changed drastically from the wasteland it had been. Instead there was a shallow pool of liquid moonlight shining in a verdant grove full of life, trees and flowers swaying in a breeze Baekhyun couldn’t feel. He dipped his fingers into the pool, feeling the spark of his power answer, much smaller and weaker than before.</p><p>“My power,” he said, opening his eyes. “It’s…gone.”</p><p>Yixing’s smile turned sad. “I know. I could feel it when I was healing you, how slow the spark was to respond to my magic. Normally I can feel you and the magic between us like it’s the blood rushing through my veins, but I can barely feel it now.”</p><p>“I had to use everything. I was spiraling for months—nearly the entire time I was in the past until two days ago.” Yixing whistled lowly. “It might not be permanent, or it might be an additional cost of having the tree bring you back to life.” Baekhyun summoned light into his palm, looking at the small orb of light that hovered there. It took more effort to maintain than he could ever remember before. “But if this is all I have it will still have been worth it to have you.” He let the light wink out. “What about the seed?” he asked, switching tacks.</p><p>Yixing took the change in conversation in stride, rolling over Baekhyun to stand and walk across the small room. “We planted it.” He picked up a small pot off the ground and brought it over to Baekhyun, who coaxed his muscles into sitting up. “It’s already starting to sprout.”</p><p>“I’ll need to replant this soon,” Baekhyun murmured, reaching out to touch the tiny sprout with a single finger, petting it gently.</p><p><em>Hello,</em> the tree whispered.</p><p>Warmth rushed through him, a feeling of comfort so rich it nearly brought fresh tears to his eyes. “Oh, hello.” There was nothing else, no more words, but Baekhyun knew he’d speak to the tree again.  </p><p>Yixing gave him a fond smile, then set the pot aside. “If you’re up to it, the others would love to see you.”</p><p>“I’d like that.”</p><p>When they made it to the main room—after a slow, careful walk to warm up Baekhyun’s protesting body—it was to find everyone there, eight pairs of eyes trained on the doorway. Nobody said anything, instead choosing to rush Baekhyun as a group and surround him in a hug so tight he thought he might end up with bruises.</p><p>But as they stepped back one by one and began to talk to him over one another, months of tension released in his chest, and as he laughed and talked with his brothers, he felt like he could finally breathe again.</p><p> </p><p>It took months for the obvious control of the Red Force to loosen over the city, and even longer for the government to recover from being little more than a puppet government. Still, it was a revelation to be able to live in broad daylight again, to not constantly have to hide. It was helpful, of course, that Taemin had kicked them out of his bunker once they’d realized they were no longer hunted.</p><p>Anyone who would hunt them had either been killed in the collapse of the building or imprisoned by the stumbling government on crimes against humanity. Rumors about a group of vigilantes with strange abilities ran rampant through the city without the quelling watch of the Red Force everywhere, but they were still careful not to draw too much attention.</p><p>Although, Baekhyun wondered how subtle they were being—ten men living together in the same house on the outskirts of the city was not inconspicuous. But between their various powers finding one that had been abandoned sometime during the occupation and renovating it wasn’t beyond them, and they’d all wordlessly agreed that separation was out of the question. He knew, personally, it would be a while before he could comfortably spend any length of time away from Yixing.</p><p>And, being on the outskirts of the city meant that there was room for a backyard that Junmyeon carefully coaxed back to life in which he could plant the tree. It was growing quickly, looking like a tree that had been there several years instead of just a few weeks. He spent long afternoons under its slowly lengthening branches, watching as their perpetually grey skies gradually lightened.</p><p>“We thought we’d find you out here,” Junmyeon said, hand entwined with Sehun’s, everyone else following behind them.</p><p>Baekhyun lifted himself onto his elbows, taking in the happy, healthy glows of their faces, and how at peace they all seemed. Yixing came around behind him and sat down, pulling Baekhyun upright against his chest. His power had slowly trickled back over the last few months—nowhere near the levels it had been before—but enough that he could feel the connection between him and Yixing thrumming softly.</p><p>Weak, watery sunlight shone down on them, and Baekhyun nearly looked up at the sky in surprise.</p><p>“Looks like the world is changing in more ways than one,” Minseok commented, leaning against Jongdae as they looked up and watched the sun break through the ashy clouds.</p><p>“Is it the tree?” Kyungsoo asked Baekhyun, shrugging off Chanyeol, who was trying to use his head as an armrest, tangling their fingers together instead.</p><p>“It’s slowly correcting the balance of the universe,” Baekhyun confirmed, feeling a tendril of the tree’s awareness brush against his mind fondly. “The more it grows, the stronger its influence will be until our world, and every other world the Red Force has destroyed, are slowly brought back to their natural states.”</p><p>“I can’t believe he talks to a tree and none of you find that odd,” Taemin interrupted. Jongin wrapped an arm around Taemin’s neck and whispered something in his ear. “I’m just saying! It’s weird,” he muttered. Jongin gave them a sheepish smile and shrugged.</p><p>“Of course the universe would speak to Baekhyun,” Yixing said proudly. “He’s a star in human form. He can’t help if he’s adored by all.”</p><p>“Oh boy, here we go,” Sehun muttered, rolling his eyes.</p><p>“As if his ego isn’t big enough already,” Jongdae added. “Yixing keeps heaping on the praise.”</p><p>Baekhyun stuck his tongue out at Jongdae. “Hey, I <em>did</em> save the world. And almost lost my power. I deserve a little praise.”</p><p>“Oh, and we were just there I suppose?” Minseok teased, shoving Jongdae into Chanyeol in favor of slinging an arm around Junmyeon. “We didn’t help at <em>all?”</em></p><p>Baekhyun found a twig and threw it in his general direction. “You know what I meant.”</p><p>Junmyeon moved to sit next to him and Yixing, pulling Sehun down next to him and shifting the conversation into something simple and mundane, free of tactics or plans. One by one, everyone else joined them under the tree, sprawled on the cool grass, Sehun sending a gentle breeze to ruffle their hair every so often. It was comfortable, and one last piece of tension came loose in his chest, letting Baekhyun feel completely and totally at ease.</p><p>He was home.</p><p>*</p><p>“Do you think we do it?” Baekhyun asked, watching the red moon rise and resting his head on Yixing’s shoulder. They were safe for now, finding this quiet moment between raids on the Red Force, but they’d need to move soon. Still, there was time for this. “Save the world?”</p><p>Yixing hugged him closer, arm around his waist, magic thrumming strong and warm between them. “I do. How could we not, when we’re following you, our north star?”</p><p>Baekhyun scrunched up his nose at the cheesiness before twisting his head to plant a kiss on Yixing’s neck. “I’m nothing without you by my side.”</p><p>“Together, we’ll save the world,” Yixing promised, tilting his head to capture Baekhyun’s mouth in a kiss. “My beautiful, burning star.”</p><p>Beyond them, the red moon shone down as they kissed, letting the problems of tomorrow stay in the future. All that mattered in the moment was them, the peace found in each other, and the hope for a better world.</p>
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